The Romance of the Uzumaki
by justplainrii
Summary: The fact of the matter is that Naruto was conceived due to a bet. A very simple bet, in fact: to find out whether or not Minato Namikaze was a virgin. And, in the process of finding out, Kushina Uzumaki ended up getting much more than she bargained for.
1. A Most Inebriated Wager

A/N: (12/15/07)

I began writing this fanfiction in September of 2007, well before Kushina was introduced in the manga.

This interpretation of her is based on the words exchanged between Jiraiya and Tsunade in chapter 367.

So, even if she's radically different than what Kishimoto chooses to present to us in the future, then please enjoy this look into the Naruto universe regardless. Just, please, don't send me reviews about her being "OOC." Like I said, this fanfic was started before Kushina properly appeared in the manga.

Greatly appreciated! Please read and enjoy.  
- Rii

-///-

"You know what, I bet you anything that the Hokage is a virgin."

Kushina Uzumaki looked up from her beer, utterly confused. "A what?" she said.

"You know," Hyou Kakougan, one of her teammates, continued, rocking his glass back and forth with his finger. "A fuckin' virgin. It's so obvious."

It was late December, and Kushina and her team had just returned to Konoha from a particularly pesky mission in the Land of Waves (more like Land of Totally Annoying Blizzards that Pop Up Without Warning, Kushina felt), and they were exhausted. It was freezing there, and it was freezing back home, which made none of them feel any better about their exhaustion.

The perfect solution, she and Hyou figured, was alcohol. And lots of it.

Sazanka Haruno, their medic, disapproved of this greatly. She went home almost immediately after she stepped through the giant gates of Konoha, to much jeering and laughter from Kushina and Hyou. Afterward, they dragged their bespectacled leader, Arare Kagayaki (who, ironically, had far less willpower than either of them) to a nearby stand, and proceeded to get plastered.

Time passed, and Arare was nodding off as Hyou and Kushina began talking about the local residents of Konoha, and their sexual prowess. How they got on the subject, nobody knew, but it was far more interesting than just sitting around and staring at each other.

"Okay, Mr. Know-it-All," Kushina said, giving a disoriented glare. "How d'you know? That the Hokage's a virgin, anyways."

"Because. Because it's obvious," said Hyou. "The man has the sexual orientation of a rock."

"Rocks. Rocks like moss," Arare said thoughtfully, from his spot beside Kushina.

"Hey, shut up," Hyou said, and Arare contentedly rested his head on his arms, too drowsy to care.

"No, but seriously," Kushina continued. "Why? I mean... why him, a virgin?"

Hyou began nodding as he spoke. "He's not married," he said, "and I don't remember him dating anyone. Not anyone. Plus, hell, you see how busy he is? He was a fuckin' nerd even back in school, too. No time for girls. No... no time."

"Uh... which Hokage are we talking about, again?" said Kushina, giving a slightly disgusted face. "Because ol' Sandaime is most definitely married. With kids. And besides, Kakougan," she added, with an unusually studious expression, "you do _not_ look as old as that guy Jiraiya. And he's... he's done a thousand girls."

"Probably more," Arare added.

"I don't mean those guys," Hyou said, glaring a little. "I mean the new guy. Namikaze. Right? That one."

"Oh, the one that beat out Orochimaru-sama," Arare mumbled. "That one."

"Oh, right. So _that's_ what you meant," Kushina scoffed. She gave an almost delicate glance up at the roof of the stand where they were drinking. "Well, I'm sure _he's_ not."

Hyou gave a swaggering smirk, his fat lips stretching across his face. "Awright, then," he said, "name _one_ reason that the Hokage can't be a virgin."

"Because," Arare said, feebly lifting his index finger from his spot next to Kushina, "it's a requirement."

"...a what?" Kushina and Hyou said.

"To be Hokage," Arare explained. His voice lilted as he waved his finger around. "You gotta... not be a virgin. It's a requirement."

"_You're_ a virgin too, Kagayaki," Hyou said, with a sniff of a laugh. Arare's glasses tilted a bit further off his face as he grimaced.

"I am _not_," he said, raising his head off his arms. His hand had dropped like a sack. "For your... for your information, I am, in fact, seeing a girl right... right now."

"What's her name, then?" Kushina asked, cattily. Arare mumbled something, and buried his face back in his arms. She continued. "Anyways, seriously, why would it be a requirement to not be a virgin in order to be Hokage? I mean, why?"

"Um... it proves... it proves ineptitude. Or something," Hyou said, not exactly aware of what he was saying. It was rather obvious, anyways—his large ears were beginning to turn red, along with his face.

"Ineptitude means it shows how he _can't_ do anything, you moron," Kushina said.

"I knew that," Hyou replied.

"Ri-ight, sure you did," Kushina smirked. She gave a rather fox-like smile, which wrinkled her nose and bright, brown eyes.

"Just like _you _know the Hokage's not a virgin?" Hyou retorted. Kushina stopped smiling. "Ha! Got you there."

"Shut up," she said, and took a good sip of her drink.

"No, seriously! You don't know whether or not... whether or not the guy's a virgin!" said Hyou, his own smirk growing by the second.

"So? Neither do you," said Kushina, not looking at him. "Fuck off."

"Oh-ho, touchy!" said Hyou. "I bet you're just _dying_ to know, anyways."

"Am not," Kushina said, as sternly as she could for someone under that level of inebriation.

"Are too," said Hyou. Kushina said nothing in return, wishing she had another drink. Arare appeared to be sleeping, his shoulders gently rising and falling. "Hey, hey, you know what," Hyou added. "I bet you ten thousand ryuu that you can't find it out for yourself."

"Find out what?" said Kushina, her ears perking up considerably at the mention of money. She had a reputation for doing downright embarrassing things just for it.

Hyou knew this. He grinned. "Whether or not the Hokage's a virgin," he said. "That's pretty easy, right?"

"Hell yeah, it is!" said Kushina, a rakish gleam in her eye. "Ten thousand ryuu, you say?"

"Yep."

"And if I lose? Is it the same?"

Hyou gave a somewhat thoughtful look, then nodded. "Sounds about right, I guess."

"Then it's a deal!" Kushina said, extending her hand for the sealing shake. Hyou, however, put up his hand.

"Hold... hold up, there," he said, pointing. "S'not fair if there isn't a time limit."

"Lameass!" Kushina said loudly. A few late-night passers-by tilted their heads in her direction at her outburst. "It had better be a decent one."

"New Years Day," Arare said, his voice muffled by his arms. Apparently, he was still conscious.

"Hey, that doesn't sound half-bad," said Hyou. "Okay, Kushina. You got... got until New Years Day to figure out whether or not the Hokage is a..." He held in a burp. "...virgin. That's, like, three days."

"Four," Arare mumbled.

"Shut the hell up, Kagayaki," Hyou said.

"Okie-dokie," Arare said cheerfully.

Hyou continued. "You'd better have a damn good reason for how you found out, too."

"'course I will," Kushina said, and offered her hand again. "So? Are we gonna shake on it or not?"

"Shake on it," said Hyou, and they did so.

-///-

Kushina woke up the next morning with one hell of a hangover.

She had fallen asleep on the couch, rather than the bed, half undressed and her hair sticking out in just about every direction possible. She had also forgotten to take off her hitai'ate, which left a bright red rectangle on the top of her head. It rather nicely complimented her bloodshot eyes, though the fact caused her to scowl at the mirror and blink in the over-bright sun. She never handled alcohol all that well on the second day.

The first order of business was a nice shower, she decided, and then a mixture of her Famous Kushina-Mix-Up-Hangover-Remedy. The recipe went as follows: a tomato, an egg, some chicken broth, a dash of milk (so long as it was fresh—Kushina had a notorious tendency to let her milk go sour and her bread moldy, and she wouldn't learn of it until after she had eaten the offending foods), a random pepper (any sort, so long as it's spicy), and a few peanuts tossed in for good measure. Blend until well mixed, and drink with your nose plugged.

However, the phone interrupted her morning plan back to sobriety, piercing her skull as she glared with dripping, blood-red hair over her eyes. The answering machine would have it. She was not in the mood.

"Hey! You've reached Kushina Uzumaki's answering machine, home to the best damn kunoichi in Konoha! Hell, probably the whole world! Or something. Anyways, leave a message at the beep if it's important. If it isn't, then buzz off, moron."

The beep sounded.

"Hey, Kushina! You up? Paying for those drinks in more ways than one, are we?"

It was Hyou. That asshole. Kushina scowled more, and listened from the bathroom as she dried off her body, completely bypassing the fact her hair was still plastered to her face.

"Anyways, just calling to make sure you remembered our little deal last night. Remember, you got until New Years Day to find out if You-Know-Who-sama's a virgin! And you better have a damn good reason with whatever you tell me. Lose, and you owe me ten thousand ryuu! Good luck, Kushina-chan!"

Kushina threw her towel at the answering machine as Hyou hung up, and stood very exposed in the middle of her apartment.

The bastard!


	2. The Heroine Goes Hunting

A/N: Thanks a ton for all the reviews! I hadn't expected such a positive response!

I attempted to answer some questions in this chapter, as well as pose some new ones, and bring the lolz if possible.

A small note on names: Hyou's first name means Big Hail, while his last name, Kakougan, means Granite.  
Arare's first name is Little Hail, while his last name, Kagayaki, means To Glow.  
Sazanka's name is a type of flower called the Camellia. And, she is female.

One of the songs I listened to while writing this chapter was "Cats on Mars" from the Cowboy Bebop OST. It really suits the mood well, so if you have it on you, have a listen.

Please read, and enjoy!

-///-

If anyone was to know anything about the love live of Minato Namikaze, it had to be Jiraiya.

Unfortunately for Kushina, the man was about as clueless about his student's love life as she was. Still, he found the fact that she wanted to know one of the funniest things he had heard all day, if not all week.

"What's this all about?" he chuckled, leaning against the wall Kushina found him near. "Why so interested all of a sudden, Kushina-ch-"

"Do_ not_ call me that!" Kushina said, stomping her foot in the snow. "Shit, ecchi-sensei, you know how much I hate that."

"I know," Jiraiya teased, the banter familiar—he could date its origins back to the very first day he had met Kushina, when she was 8. She was a ragged, shivering child from the Land of Whirlpools, standing by the gate and waiting to be escorted to the Hokage's office with the rest of the refugees.

Upon learning her name, he called her Kushina-chan. In return, she called him ecchi-sensei, from her keen observation of his flirting habits. The nicknames, then, became a mutual thing. "All right, _Kushina_," he continued, taking care to leave out the honorific, "why the interest in my student, then?"

"Just... curiosity," Kushina said, frowning, her eyes darting to one side.

"Looking to score?" His eyebrows danced upwards towards his hitai'ate, and she crossed her arms, stomping in the snow again.

"No, it's not that!" she said. "Jeese, I just wanna know if he's dating anyone or not right now! It's a simple question!"

Jiraiya's grin didn't go away. "Well, _Kushina_, for someone not looking for action, you sure are determin-"

"I told you, it's not that!" she said. "Damn, ecchi-sensei! Okay, then how about this?" Her hands moved from across her jacket to her hips. "Has he ever dated _anyone_? _Anyone_ at all?"

Jiraiya gave her a befuddled glance. "...wow, are you, like, _super_ into commitment?" he said. "You know, the whole 'I love you and I've only ever loved you!' thing? 'cos good luck finding tha-"

"Shut up, ecchi-sensei!" Kushina said, and forming a snowball with her mittened hands, she tossed it at the man's face. It broke apart and clustered in his hair, making it look more like a matted mane of fur than ever, and he laughed as she stormed off.

"That girl sure is something," he said to himself, and reached into his coat for the small jug of sake he was keeping warmed.

"Definitely not the right person to ask," Kushina sighed, and began making her way into the heart of the city again. "Why did I even bother...?"

She felt like taiyaki for breakfast.

-///-

One chocolate and one red bean taiyaki later, Kushina was back on the trail. Sort of.

She was fresh out of leads, or had thought of possible leads but thought on them and completely eliminated them.

She couldn't rightly ask the ANBU, because they weren't as close to the Hokage as they would want you to believe. The teams even stayed the same whenever a new Hokage ascended to the post—their loyalties just changed. Some even quit the team, as they were happier with the previous Hokage, or the alternative candidate. There _had_ been quite a lot of protest amongst certain members of ANBU when Minato Namikaze had won over Orochimaru Yashagoro, who had been a shoo-in for Sarutobi's replacement for as long as Kushina could remember. Not that it really interested her.

Kushina would rather kill herself with a kunai knife than directly ask Namikaze for an answer, as well, so that was absolutely and completely out of the question. He had no family to speak of, either, so she had nobody of that sort to consult.

The absolute last resort was to go to his students, as she had no idea who or where the Hokage's old teammates were.

Asking his students was a much better, if not completely desperate, option than the embarrassment of asking the man himself. True, the little brats might tell her what she said, but then again... she'd just allow herself to come off as someone simply seeing if the Hokage was "available." The bet would be nowhere in sight. Or sound, if she thought about it.

All in all, though, it seemed a very clever plan.

The issue at hand, then, was to find the little buggers.

Amateur trios, barely old enough to have hitai'ates, were all over the place, helping clean and spruce up the city for Near Year's. Kushina wrinkled her nose and pouted as memories came back to her from when she had been their age, and having to do those menial tasks. Even back then, she wanted action, adventure! It didn't help much that she sucked at studying, and wasn't allowed on many missions at first... but when she got it, she got it! And that was all that mattered.

She began to laugh, thinking about how scrawny and wimpy Arare had been, even back then. But he was a good guy. He was one of the first of them to become a jounin, after all.

She bumped into something, about half as tall as her mid-chest, which jolted her rather unpleasantly back into reality. "Ow, hey!" she said. "Watch where you're going!"

"Sorry!" the little person said, and Kushina blinked. Those obnoxious orange goggles looked awfully familiar...

"Oh! Hey! Twerps!" Kushina said, snapping as she realized she had run into the Hokage's students. "I got a question to ask you."

"Sure, ask away," the sole girl of the group said, smiling. Her gentle face gave Kushina the impression of a medic nin, which was what she probably was. Kushina didn't like medic nin all that much.

"Do you now if your sensei's been dating anyone lately?" she asked. The boy in the goggles and the girl blinked at her a few times. The third teammate continued putting red garlands up on the fence.

"Uh... say what?" said the boy.

"You know, have you, uh... seen him with any women lately?" Kushina continued, somewhat regretting asking the kids in the first place. Did they even know anything?

"Um, I don't think so?" the girl said. "Why?"

"Oh, uh, just... wondering?" Kushina said, nervously scratching the back of her neck. "_You_ know."

"What, feeling like getting lucky?" the third boy, who was wearing a mask, said, continuing to string garlands.

Kushina turned slightly pink. "No-o, not exactly." She pointed to the kid in goggles. "Uh, you there. What's your name?"

"Obito Uchiha?" he replied, as if asking a question.

"Seriously?" Kushina said. He sure didn't look like an Uchiha. "You sure don't look like an Uchiha."

Obito's already cold-blushed face turned a little redder, and the girl frowned a little.

"If you don't mind me asking, is that all you need to know?" she said, defensively.

Kushina sighed, rolling her eyes and trying to come up with something to say. "No-o."

"Then say it, already," the girl said. The masked boy finished his string and started another.

"Does..." Kushina said uneasily, "your sensei have any... lady friends?"

"Oh, give it a rest," said the masked boy, glancing over his shoulder. "Namikaze-sensei hasn't slept with a woman in ages. I bet that if you played your cards right, though, you just might score."

"Kakashi!" the girl squeaked, turning mildly pink. Kushina grimaced—no wonder the boy looked somewhat familiar. He was one of those child prodigies, becoming a chuunin at a freakishly young age. Kushina had a special place in her heart reserved for hating those prodigies.

"Punkass kid!" she yelled, and stomped off.

"Kakashi!" the girl said again. "That was rude!"

Kakashi didn't reply, as Obito watched the strange young woman stomp away.

"You think she wants to go on a date with sensei?" he said.

"Who knows?" replied the girl.

-///-

Kushina stormed through Konoha, completely out of viable options.

Other than asking just about every woman in Konoha if they had slept with Namikaze (she would stop where she stood if she had to resort to asking _men..._ disgusting!), there was absolutely no way of finding out. And it was no use asking him outright, either.

Maybe she should find his doctor! Did doctors know about those kinds of things?

In her haste, she had bumped into yet another person, and luckily, it was someone more around her size.

"Hey, watch where you're going, asswipe!" she said.

"Sorry! I wasn't paying attention."

Kushina's face turned pale.

It was Minato Namikaze, bumped-into and smiling sheepishly.

"Why the hell are you so cheerful?" she said. "You should be more responsible as Hokage than to run into people, y'know."

"I suppose," he laughed. "I just came back from checking on my students. They told me you were asking about me. Were you?"

Kushina's face paled even more. How did he know about that? She couldn't have run into them more than a few minutes ago!

"So? What about it?" she sulked, her face regaining its color.

He tilted his head slightly, and smiled. "Would you like to speak with me, Uzumaki-san? Privately?"'

"...maybe," she admitted. Just what exactly had the kids _told_ him?

"Well, today's not really a very good day for me," he said. "I'm far too busy with all the preparations for tomorrow."

"Sure, right," Kushina said absently, but bitterly.

"But," Minato added with a smile, "I'm not doing anything tomorrow... Do you want to come visit me then?" He leaned in a little closer, his eyebrows rising.

"...what are you trying to do? Hit on me?" she said, scowling at him. "In your dreams, sleazebag!"

Through the snow, once more, she went, leaving Namikaze (the asshole!) laughing where he stood.

The first order of business for Kushina was to go home, throw her coat on the floor, and call Hyou.

"You are a Class-S asshole, you slime!" she yelled, and hung up the phone to the sound of Hyou (another asshole!) laughing.

A trip to the bathroom, can of melon soda, and flop on the bed later, Kushina was finally just the slightest bit calmer, and in the mood for thinking.

So, Jiraiya knew nothing, his students reported no dating in recent times, and the man himself had made a pass at her. Everything was so inconclusive; she'd never have enough to make a real deduction for Hyou. And 10,000 ryuu sure was a lot of money (to her, at least).

Should she take advantage of him asking her over? Her gut told her to do it, but... damn, would it be humiliating!

Wait... or maybe not?

A thought, then an idea, and then a full-blown plan began to hatch and gestate within her mind, and after a dejected look within her closet, she grabbed her wallet and went shopping.

For this plan to work, she was going to need nicer clothes.


	3. A Plan Devised, and Executed

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews!

Other than the fact that "Let's Get it On" by Marvin Gaye is a wholly appropriate song for the stuff about to happen (wink wink), I'm afraid there are no notes for this chapter. So sit back, relax, enjoy, and review!

-///-

Kushina was not accustomed to wearing a kimono. Even though she was basically only wearing a yukata (a very _warm_ one) the fabric belt and long sleeves felt so... cumbersome, compared to her more useful wardrobe.

But, she thought determinedly, it was all for a good cause. The 3,000 ryuu she had spent were not going to be put to waste!

Despite the orange and purple kimono she was wearing, she still had on her usual blue work shoes. She didn't want to freeze her feet off by wearing more traditional sandals in winter. So what if her shoes didn't match the rest of her outfit? It wasn't like anyone was going to be staring at them.

She continued on, confidently, down the road, until she came to the Hokage's office, where a few ANBU were posted (though, in truth, they were just hanging out together and enjoying themselves, after their mission finally let up after several months).

"'scuze me," she said, approaching them. "I'm Kushina Uzumaki. The Hokage said he'd see me today."

The two unmasked ANBU exchanged confused glances between them. "Huh?" one of them said.

Kushina took it to be an interrogative question, and nodded. "Yeah, he said so yesterday. So, am I on some sort of list to get in and see him?" She gave the ANBU an indignant glare, and they looked at each other again.

"Um, miss, you don't need an appointment to see the Hokage," the other said.

Kushina was silent for a moment, and then scowled. "I knew that!" she said, and pushed her way past them. "'scuze me!"

Rather surprised, the off-duty ANBU let her past.

It wasn't very hard to find the Hokage's office, and she burst open the doors to find Minato sitting peacefully at his desk, writing something with an ink brush.

"Oh, hello," he said casually.

Kushina frowned. "What's this?" she asked. Minato put down his brush and observed his handiwork.

"I don't know, really," he replied. "I just felt like practicing calligraphy."

"Right. Okay. Sure," Kushina said distractedly, trying to remember what she was going to say. "Oh, yeah! Do you want to... hang out with me today?"

Minato blinked. "_Hang out?_"

"Well... yeah," Kushina said. She was fidgeting. "You know... walk around, maybe get something to eat... have dinner at my house?"

"...is this a date?" he said.

"NO," she said sternly. "Just... okay. I'm bored. And so are you. I mean... you're practicing _handwriting_. Who even _does_ that?"

Minato laughed; a young, handsome laugh. It was annoying. "Hey, stop that!" Kushina said. "I'm serious. Only old people and little kids in school do that."

"That's a very broad generalization, Uzumaki-san," he said.

"Yeah, whatever," Kushina said, rolling her eyes. "So, you gonna come with me?"

"I don't see why not," he said, standing. Kushina, then, started to laugh wildly.

It seemed that he was wearing hakama. White hakama, with a festive, forest green kimono.

"What the hell are you doing, wearing stupid stuff like that?" she cackled. "That stuff went out of style, like, centuries ago!"

"I see you're not really one to talk, Kushina-san," he said, gesturing towards her and her kimono.

"Stuff it," she said, frowning. "Come on, let's go."

Stomping out of the office, he joined her and told his secretary to have someone put away his work once it was dry. Kushina jabbed him a little for not cleaning up after himself, but he calmly retorted that since Kushina was so keen on him coming with her, he had no other choice, or she'd get mad waiting. She left him alone about it shortly afterward.

They walked in silence for a while, snow beginning to fall in their hair. Minato then complimented Kushina on her choice in footwear, which caused her to yell at him a bit, and proper conversation finally started.

There really wasn't much of anything to do that day, it seemed. Being New Year's Eve, most businesses were closed, their owners home with their families and cleaning their houses. The only ones still out and about were a few errant ANBU, home from missions, and the odd Uchiha patroller.

So, they went to a park, and with a well-thrown snowball on Minato's behalf, a veritable war was begun. Kushina tied her skirt about her legs so it kept out of the way, and gained the upper hand by creating several clones of herself and pelting the Hokage, laughing, to the ground.

"Where'd you learn how to do that?" he said, swiping the snow out of his hair.

Kushina's clones simultaneously smiled. "That's a secret," they chorused, and disappeared in a burst of smoke. "Besides," the real Kushina added, "you're the Hokage. _You_ ought to know how to do it."

So, they got hot tea from a vending machine, and warmed their hands, cold from the snowballs, eventually exchanging cans when Kushina loudly realized she had gotten the wrong brand.

So, the steel-cloud day turned into a fiery orange evening, and their not-date threatened to come to an end. Kushina knew she had to act fast.

"So, uh, why don't we get something to eat?" she said, a little forcedly.

"Hm, you did mention you wanted dinner at your house," said Minato. "But, really, if you had to go through all the trouble of asking me out, I'll-"

"I didn't ask you out, idiot!" Kushina said indignantly. "I was just bored."

"Whatever it is," Minato smiled, causing Kushina to sulk. "Do you _want _to make dinner, Uzumaki-san?"

"Hell yeah, I do!" Kushina said. "Come on. My house, my food. Plus, we could watch the fireworks if you stay long enough! I've got one hell of a view."

Minato, charmed by the idea, smiled. "All right," he said.

He could tell the girl was trying really, very hard.

-///-

Kushina was not much of a cook. If it wasn't instant, chances were that it would turn out too spicy or salty, or burnt.

So, she and Minato dined on a meal of store-bought sushi, rice from her rice cooker, and cheap sake.

She half expected him to just grin and bear it―but he looked surprisingly happy as he snapped his chopsticks apart, neatly, and thanked her for the meal. Kushina's were splintered at the end from her usual haste at snapping them.

He ate politely, complimenting Kushina on her choice, which she waved off with her hand. "It's just store-bought bullshit, you don't have to go out of your way to praise me like I'm the greatest cook ever."

"Yes, but it's still very good," he smiled.

"Oh, shut up," Kushina said, smiling in spite of herself.

Was it because of the sake, what she knew was in store, or something else?

She suspected it was a combination of the first two.

Minato helped with the (few) dishes following the meal, night already several hours in.

"The fireworks are soon, right?" he said, and she nodded. "I think I'll stick around to see them, then."

"Great!" Kushina said. Everything was going according to plan. She sat down, with unusual perkiness, on her bed. "So, got any resolutions?"

"Resolutions?" said Minato, and she nodded. "Hm... to perhaps be more understanding, and less scared."

Kushina shot him a confused glance. "Scared? Why'd you be scared?"

"Well," Minato said, "just think about my position." He smiled sadly. "I have a lot to live up to, and a lot of mess to put beneath me. You know, like that whole business with Orochimaru-san. He left Konoha because of me, I think."

"Yeah," Kushina said, nodding. Minato took his hands out of the sink and dried them, before standing near the bed and looking out her window.

"It's really, also, kinda scary to know that _my_ face is going to be up there, someday," he said, nodding towards the large bluff where the faces of the Hokage had been carved. "It really makes me wonder what kind of legacy I'll leave behind, you know?"

Kushina looked over her shoulder at the illuminated bluffs beyond, and found herself nodding. "It _is_ a bit weird."

Minato nodded, and was silent for a while. Then, he looked at her. "What about you?"

"What _about_ me?" she said, glaring at him suspiciously for a bit. He began to laugh.

"I meant _your_ resolutions," he said.

"Oh, I see," said Kushina, and thought, her face set. What _were_ her goals, anyways?

"I'm going to enter the new year with more than I had before," she decided. Oh yes, that would be an easy resolution. If all went as planned, the 10,000 ryuu was hers!

"A fine resolution," Minato said, and she noticed his cheeks turned slightly... pink? "Er, do you mind if I... sit?"

"Uh, sure," Kushina said, scooting the window. Minato joined her, and sighed a little.

"The fireworks are right over the bluff, right?" he said. "Wow, you really do have a good view for them."

"Didn't I tell you?" Kushina said, sticking out her tongue. "Oh, I should turn the lights out, though. You can't see a damn thing with everything on. Should I get 'em?" She pouted a little. "They're gonna start in, like, a few minutes."

"Sure, why not?" said Minato, and Kushina went bounding off the bed. The lights turned off.

She returned with her kimono significantly loosed, barely hinting at a matching red bra and panties set.

The kimono had cost 2,000 ryuu.

The underwear was 1,000.

She sat beside him, taking care to situate the opening of her kimono to focus on her pitiful excuse for cleavage, squished together by the bra. "Hmph, I'm getting so impatient," she whined.

Minato glanced at her for a moment, then looked again as he realized the state her clothes were in. "Huh?" was all he said.

She passed him a seductive glance. "Come on, don't deny it," she said. "You are, too."

"Impatient for... the fireworks to start?" he said. He gulped.

She gently tsk-tsked, and reached over to brush some yellow hair out of his eyes. "No, you silly boy," she said. He was older than her, and she knew it, but she really did want to say that at least once in her life. The collar of her kimono drooped off her shoulder, exposing a ruby-red bra strap. "_You_ know what I mean."

She leaned forward, smiling at him, her eyes heavy. "Let me have you."

The line was corny as hell, but she fell, kissing, onto him.

Fireworks outside the window exploded as they abandoned their clothes and wrapped themselves in each other.

-///-

Kushina's final opinion on the matter: Minato Namikaze wasn't that half-bad of a lover.

He was resting, smiling and naked in the blue-black of the night, between her sheets. Oddly enough, he was curled up like some sort of giant child. It amused as she sat at the other side of the bed, her hair untidy as she playfully held her pillow to her chest and smirked at him over it.

Now, she finally had her chance.

"Namikaze?" she said.

"Mm?" he said, comfortably.

"Am I the first woman you've ever slept with?"

Minato stretched, almost like a cat, and scratched his stomach. "I guess so," he replied.

Kushina's mouth dropped slightly open. "...what did you say?" she said.

"I guess so..." he repeated, stretching his arms behind his head and smiling, contentedly.

Kushina smiled, and neatly put away the pillow. She pushed him off the bed.

"Out of my house!" she said, with a marvelous sort of angry cheerfulness that only she could really pull off. "Out!"

Before he could do anything, Minato found himself locked outside Kushina's apartment, naked as the day he was born. She still had his clothes.

It was the funniest damn thing that had ever happened to him.

Though extremely cold, he walked in the nude to the landlady on the ground floor, knocked on her door, and politely inquired for a blanket of some sort. The landlady, mortified, covered the eyes of her curious daughter and gave one to him, and he went on his way, whistling a song, home.

Kushina, triumphant, grabbed the phone as soon as Minato was out, and dialed up Hyou.

"Pay up, Kakougan," she said, grinning. "The Hokage is a virgin, and damn, do I have one hell of a good story behind it."


	4. More Than She Had Before

A/N: Thanks, so much, for all the reviews! I'm really very thankful.

Some notes on this chapter--  
Susano'o is the name of a storm god from Japanese mythology. As for his last name, I'll let you draw your own conclusions. :3  
The same goes for Sazanka and her last name.

Teuchi is the proprietor of the Ichiraku Ramen stand. What exactly does that mean? I wonder.

You'll also be hearing a lot more about the mysterious Dr. Hyuuga in upcoming chapters.

As always, read, enjoy, and review!

-///-

"You seriously slept with him?!" Hyou said, on January 2nd. Pay day.

Kushina grinned. "Damn right, I did," she said. "He told me what I needed to know after I seduced him."

"You feline!" Arare said, causing them all to stare, awkwardly, at him. He blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"Okay," Hyou continued, a skeptical smirk on his face, "but words are words. You got proof you actually _did_ it?"

"_Do_ I," Kushina said, and retrieved a white and green bundle from her knapsack. "I got his clothes."

"Disgusting!" Sazanka squealed, as Hyou whooped and eagerly slapped his money in Kushina's open palm. "Kushina, you're absolutely sick! I would _never_ do that!"

"It's because you're _not_ me," Kushina smirked, replacing Minato's clothes.

Sazanka sniffed condescendingly. "Anyways. Frankly, I don't care whether or not Hokage-sama _was_ a virgin." Her voice dripped with blood and poison on the word "was." "He's a capable leader, and his... sexual status should have nothing to do with his leadership!" She sighed. "Honestly, I don't see _why_ you three make those idiotic bets all the time."

Arare smiled in his sad, defeated way. "They've been like that since we were kids. I'm just a spectator," he said.

Sazanka sighed again as Kushina and Hyou began to chatter. "Well, you'd better respect him and his privacy on the matter, you know," she told Kushina. "I mean, honestly."

Kushina went quiet and thought for a moment, the nodded a little. "Yeah, I guess so. I mean, as much as I'd love to humiliate the guy, that's just too low. And, hell," she grinned, "I got money to keep me quiet." With a sadistic grin, she fanned the bills with her fingers.

"Pretty much," Arare said, smiling.

"Hah! Man, what a laugh I got!" Kushina crowed. "I honestly thought he wasn't one."

"Any good in bed?" Arare said, prompting a scoff from Sazanka and a, "Not you, too..."

"Oh-hoh, yeah," Kushina said, briefly remembering how he had breathed into her hair as―"Wait, why do you want to know? You want a go with him too?" She eyed him suspiciously.

Arare waved his hands defensively, making a very strange face. "No, no! I'm not one of those... fluffy types, like Yakushi-sama!"

"Don't talk that way about Susano'o-sama!" Sazanka snapped, turning pink. Susano'o Yakushi was the former head of Konoha's medical force and good friend of Sazanka.

Susano'o was also widely known 1.) to be gay, and 2.) to have a wild crush on Orochimaru. Unfortunately for him, his crush cost him his life; Sandaime caught Orochimaru experimenting on his corpse shortly after he was rejected to become Hokage. When the news broke out, it disgusted everyone, yet not many were surprised that he was the victim.

"And he was not fluffy! He just... didn't like women!" Sazanka added, her eyes darting to the side as she crossed her arms.

"So that means he was one of those 'fluffy types'," Hyou laughed.

Sazanka sighed, and gave one of her practiced Looks. "Don't be so mean. You should respect the dead."

"Jeeze, sorry," Hyou said, frowning a little. "Just sayin'."

"Hey, anyways!" Kushina said, wanting to break the semi-tragic air. "What's for us to do?"

Sighing, Arare smiled in his sad, defeated way. "Small mission, to get us caught back up on things. Here's the plan."

-///-

Time passed, and February arrived, exhausted and sick.

The team returned to Konoha from a mild mission in the Land of Rain, Hyou cheerfully proclaiming how much he couldn't wait to get a drink upon getting home.

As usual, Arare was to be dragged along, while Sazanka tsk-tsked and refused.

Not as usual, Kushina was inclined to agree with Sazanka that night. This, needless to say, was shocking.

"Kushina, what's the deal?" said Hyou. "You're usually more up for it than me!"

"If you haven't noticed, dipshit," Kushina growled, "I feel like crap. I'm exhausted."

"Seriously? That mission wasn't nearly as hard as some of the other ones we've been on," said Arare, thoughtfully. "Maybe you're coming down with something."

"Yeah, probably," Kushina said. "Hey, Haruno. I'm gonna go to the public baths, do you wanna come with me?"

"I have a bath at home," Sazanka said, blinking in surprise. Kushina, a woman of boundless energy, almost never got sick—unless her food went bad.

"Ah, okay," Kushina said. "See you guys 'round, then."

Plodding off, Arare and Hyou watched her go before Sazanka finally left as well.

"We're still going to get a drink," Hyou declared, and with his arm firmly clamped around Arare's narrow shoulders, they went to go find a bar.

-///-

Kushina was awoken by the telephone, and she would have thrown her alarm clock at it, had it not already fallen to the floor by her repeated, violent use of the snooze button.

She moaned as she heard her voice's recording play, and a loud beep.

"Hey, Kushina-san? It's Arare. I'm just calling to make sure you're okay. You didn't look all that well yesterday. So, are you feeling better? Or getting your rest?"

"I'm getting my rest, stupid," she mumbled at nobody, as Arare politely concluded his message and hung up. She sulked with her nose in her pillow (the smell of Minato long since washed away) and sighed. She was hungry.

Dragging herself out from between the sheets, she took some bread out of the fridge and, bypassing the usual application of butter or jam, ate it cold.

In the middle of contemplating a shower or getting dressed, she bolted to the toilet and marvelously ejected the bread from her body.

"Dammit," she grumbled, and after wiping off her mouth and flushing it down, went to check on the bread.

It was moldy.

The offending material was then gloriously shoved into the trashcan, and with a vengeance, Kushina opened the fridge in search of other rotten food.

Sour milk, a brown banana (_that_ was on top of the fridge), watery yogurt, withered vegetables.

All of them went into the garbage.

Kushina was going shopping. Woman could not survive on packaged food alone.

-///-

4536 ryuu later, there were fresh groceries in Kushina's fridge, and she felt quite satisfied that she would be feeling better.

Until one, two, three days went by, and she was still hugging her toilet at regular intervals throughout the day.

Kushina, it seemed, had the stomach flu. She called Arare about it, and being the kind person that he was, pardoned her from any missions in the next few days, and sweetly hoped she would get well soon.

After five more days of torture, however, Kushina decided to (finally) see a doctor at the local clinic about it, and get the problem solved. This was just ridiculous.

It didn't take long for a diagnosis, which made Kushina happy, because she hated waiting.

"Well, the good news is, Uzumaki-san, that you haven't got stomach flu," the doctor said, barely after the examination had begun.

"Oh, good," said Kushina. "So, what the hell's gotten me sick?"

"You're pregnant, Uzumaki-san. Congratulations."

"...fuck the what, now?"

"Pregnant," the doctor continued, smiling. "There's a very obvious 'drag' in the chakra output of an expectant mother. Dr. Hyuuga taught us how to recognize it, and it's helped worlds."

Kushina, with disbelief and fear on her face, said "...seriously?"

"Yes, indeed," said the doctor. "Now, I suppose you should start scheduling prenatal visits with us so—where are you going?"

Kushina glared as she stomped out of the clinic. "I'm gonna go kill the Hokage."

-///-

A rumbling terror with red hair came thundering through Konoha and into the Hokage's headquarters. Past the doors, the secretary, and into the office, she screamed:

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

Minato, at his desk, said "Huh?"

"I hope you're satisfied with yourself!" Kushina continued, stomping over and yelling in his face. "You fucking ruined me!"

"I... what?" he said.

"What the hell did you do to me, anyways?!" she said. "Honestly, how?!"

"I did... what to you?" he said, blinking.

"I'm pregnant, you bastard," she growled. "Shit! How did you do it? How did a virgin prick like you do this to me?"

"I'm... sorry?" he said. Kushina, angry to the point of tears, slammed her fists on his desk, sending papers rustling.

"Fuck you!" she yelled, loud enough for many to hear, and stormed out of there.

Pregnant? Was she really telling the truth?

With a reaction like that, she probably was. Minato sat there in shock for a moment.

Pregnant? With his kid? _His_ kid?

"Hokage-sama, is everything all right?" his secretary said meekly, poking her head through the door.

"Get me Jiraiya-sensei, please," he said, his voice hollow as he kneaded his forehead. "I need to talk to him."

-///-

It usually wasn't a good sign when Jiraiya's favorite student needed his help, so he entered the office cautiously. "Hey, what's up, slick?"

"Do you remember Kushina?" Minato asked. His head was in his hands.

Jiraiya decided to use humor. "Remember her? Minato, she's an old friend," he laughed. "What about her?"

"I slept with her on New Year's."

A bark of laughter shot out of Jiraiya's mouth. "That's great! No wonder she was asking around..."

Minato looked at him, a heavy, helpless look in his eyes. "She said I got her pregnant."

Jiraiya blinked. "'zzat so?" he said, and Minato nodded. "When did you find out?"

"Just now," Minato said glumly, and ran his fingers through his hair, nervously. "I have no idea what to do."

"Well, kid," Jiraiya said, taking a breath, "I don't have much experience in this sorta thing."

Surprisingly enough, this was true. But it didn't override the fact that somewhere, in many small villages scattered through the countries, children with white, fur-like hair were playing, the result of a night of joyful rocking and bucking with charming local girls.

Jiraiya just never stuck around long enough to hear of them.

He continued. "I think the most important thing for you to do is to go talk to her about what she wants to talk about, or something," he said. "Be helpful? I dunno."

He scratched the back of his head and stared at the ceiling for a bit. "If Tsunade were here, she'd be able to give you better advice. Heck, even Orochi-" He stopped, and gave a vaguely downcast look. "..._that_ guy knows more about girls than me."

"Not that he would give me much advice," Minato said, with a bitter chuckle. "He'd rather use this whole thing as blackmail to disseat me, or something."

"Not quite sure about that," Jiraiya said, barely smiling. "Maybe."

Minato's hands kneaded his forehead and face. "Holy shit," he said, and groaned. "I really messed up."

"Just do what I said," Jiraiya said, reassuringly. "It's the best thing you can do."

"Yeah," Minato said. "Thanks, sensei. You can go, now."

"No problem, kid," Jiraiya said, throwing a smirk of a smile over his shoulder.

Minato busied himself with paperwork for the rest of the day, but a shocking, astounding thought refused to budge from his mind:

Was he really somebody's father?

-///-

It was three days before the amount of work lessened up enough to allow Minato to get out of his office and track down Kushina for a chat. His gut was still extremely weak, but he figured his sensei's advice was the best thing to follow for the moment.

He remembered where her apartment was; but knocking on the door revealed she was not home. A quick conversation with the landlady (the events of the month before still very vivid in her mind—her curious daughter even asked, "Did you get your clothes back, Hokage-sama?") revealed that Kushina had headed down such-and-such a street, which sent Minato on his way.

He found her at a ramen stand, ravenously devouring a bowl of the stuff.

Gently, he stood behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. Her head whipped around, and she glared at him, before angrily returning to her bowl.

"Want to talk?" he asked.

She swallowed. A fish cake was stuck to her cheek. "No," she said. "Fuck off."

He sighed and sat beside her, as she ate some more. The owner of the stand, Teuchi, looked up with a burst of steam.

"Anything for you, Hokage-sama?" he asked politely.

"Naruto ramen, please," he said. It was what Kushina was eating.

"Coming right up," said the owner, and busied himself with making it.

"Prick," Kushina said, and slurped her noodles in deliberate obnoxiousness.

For a while, there was nothing but the sound of the preparation of ramen, and the occasional loud slurp from Kushina's bowl.

"So, do you know when you're due?" Minato asked, after clearing his throat. She glared. "Oh, sorry. I just want to know."

"I haven't found the... baby-doctor yet," she said sourly. "I ran out of the clinic before they could tell me. So I don't know."

"You should go back there and find where you need to go," Minato said thoughtfully.

"Why do you care?" Kushina grumbled.

"It's my kid, too."

"Right, _your_ kid," Kushina said bitterly, and stuffed a cluster of noodles into her mouth. "Why do you even care?"

"Well, I _am_ the one that got you into this mess," Minato said.

Kushina stared at him. His ramen was served, and paid-for, and he neatly split his chopsticks before speaking.

"Really, it's my fault, too," he continued, after she had gone without saying anything more. "So, is there anything I can do for you? Do you need... money?"

"Oh, I dunno," Kushina said sarcastically. "Maybe find a way to turn back time, and, maybe, _not_ sleep with me?"

Minato stirred his noodles with his chopsticks, thinking. There was near-silence for a while. "You really don't want this baby, do you?"

"Does it sound like I do?" Kushina said. She found herself stirring her noodles like Minato was doing, in the silence that resulted, and very quickly stopped.

"Well, I suppose you could have a…what are they called? Abortion?" Minato said.

Kushina tossed a noodle at him with her chopsticks. "Are you absolutely insane?" she said. "Like hell I'd get an abortion! You know who the hell _runs_ those places?"

Of course, all and any abortion clinics in Konoha (as well as anywhere else) were run and funded by the Church of Jashin. Jashin's word preached that unions not producing children were sacred, so of course, its followers were more than happy to get rid of unwanted babies.

Considering the death-loving nature of the religion, however, this was an option to only the most desperate of inadvertent mothers. And Kushina was not one of them.

"I see," Minato said, picking the noodle out of his hair and dropping it on the ground. He was silent for a good long while, thinking. "In that case, then, what if I raised it?"

Kushina blinked. "Huh?"

"When it's born," Minato said, smiling, "I'll raise it. That is, if _you_ don't want to."

"Are you…kidding?" Kushina said, laughing a little. "Seriously, you? Ri-ight, sure."

"I don't see why not," he continued, smiling, as he picked up a fish cake with his chopsticks. "Sarutobi-sama has a family of his own."

"Yeah, that's true," Kushina sighed. Minato ate the fish cake. Time passed. Finally, she groaned, "_God_, I'm gonna have to put up with all the _crap_ before you do!"

He glanced at her in mild surprise. "You mean you'll let me?" he said.

"Might as well," Kushina said, and grumbled. "You're not the one that's gonna get _fat_ and stuff, though."

"But it's a definite yes?" Minato said.

"Yes! I said so already!" Kushina said, and glanced away from him. "Cripes."

Minato laughed. "That's fantastic." She groaned loudly. "Don't worry, we're in this together," he added, smiling gently.

"Like hell we are," said Kushina.

"Finish your ramen; you're eating for two," he said gently, and patted her on the shoulder before he returned to his own bowl.

"Don't touch me."

"That's not what you said on New Year's."

Kushina tossed her bowl at Minato's face, her ramen effectively finished.


	5. Educating the Masses

A/N: Wow, again, thank you for all the reviews! I wonder, if with the way things are going now, I'll break 100 reviews with this chapter?

To answer some questions some of you posed since last chapter, I did some math.

Pregnancies take 40 weeks to complete. 40 weeks behind October 10th, exactly, is Janurary 3rd. Naruto came right on time. So, my timeline is rather accurate. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing!

Also, Kushina is a jounin, as is the rest of her team.

So, as usual, read, enjoy, and review if you enjoyed!

-///-

"Oh, you're having a baby?" Arare said placidly, after Kushina broke the news. "That's exciting."

It might as well have been the punchline to the best joke in the world to Hyou, because he began to laugh so hard, his sides very well have been splitting.

"SERVES YOU RIGHT, AHAHA!" he cackled, and Kushina gave him a well-aimed kick to the shins. "Hey, ow!"

"Shut up, will you?" she growled, Hyou still wheezing out laughter. Sazanka had yet to respond. "So, you got something to say?" Kushina added towards her. "No doubt you've got-"

"I think you're kidding," Sazanka said flatly, crossing her arms.

Kushina stared at her. "...you think I'm making this up?!" she said.

Sazanka was silent for a while. Everything was silent.

"There's a tiny little _invader _in my stomach, Haruno," Kushina continued, pointing towards the offending object. "This is no laughing matter."

Then, Sazanka spoke.

"...seriously?! You're _pregnant_?!" she squealed. "Oh, that's just wonderful!"

"Easy for you to say," Kushina said lowly, sulking. Hyou was laughing again.

"Oh, but Kushina-san, this is so great!" Sazanka said, events unfolding in her mind. _She_ was going to be an aunt soon, and now that Kushina was expecting... maybe her niece or nephew could be friends with Kushina's little girl! Or boy... She shuddered at the thought! Even though a girl was likely to be just as violent.

But, there was hope! Everyone knew that pregnancy always brought out the mother in even the toughest of women, and there was hope for Kushina yet! Maybe, even, they could go out for tea, and gossip, and-

"You _are_ aware that you're thinking aloud, aren't you, Haruno?" Kushina said smugly, and Sazanka turned pink. Had they just heard all that?!

Sazanka pouted. "Well, I can only hope," she said, and gave a hearty "Hmph!"

With a wry glance, Kushina looked down at her stomach. "Hey, kid; when you grow up, stay _away_ from the Harunos. They will _ruin_ you."

"Kushina!" Sazanka said, horrified, as Hyou burst into a fresh bought of laughter. Tears were beginning to leak out of his eyes.

"How far along are you?" Arare asked, smiling. Kushina shrugged.

"No idea. One month, two months?" she replied. "I dunno."

"Wait a minute…does that mean…" Hyou said, composing himself and counting the time in his head.

"You're not having the _Hokage's_ baby, are you?!" Sazanka said.

"Shut _up_ about that," said Kushina, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, he's the dick responsible."

"You can't be _serious_! Omigod!" Sazanka said, and started jumping up and down. "Kushina, you can't be serious!"

"Shut _up_, will you?" Kushina said, through gritted teeth. "My life's enough of a soap opera as it is!"

"Oh, god, but this is just…!" Sazanka began, and started giggling. "Is he going to be an active father?"

"He's going to raise the damn thing after it's born. Without me. End of story," Kushina said bitterly. Sazanka gasped.

"You don't even want your own baby?" she said.

"No, actually, I don't!" Kushina replied, glaring at the medic. "Got a problem with that?"

Hyou started laughing at them, and both women snapped, "Will you stay out of this?!" Very quickly, he stopped and backed away.

"Girls! Please, calm down!" Arare called, stepping in before a larger conflict should result. "Sazanka-san, please respect the Hokage's decision. It's going to take a lot to raise a child as a single father."

"Good for him," Hyou said, slightly apathetic.

Sazanka sighed and crossed her arms again. "I can't help but feel he'll be _far_ too busy to raise a child, though..."

"Hell no," Kushina said sternly. "He's the one that suggested it in the first place, anyways."

"Very generous of him," Arare smiled.

Kushina smiled slightly, and looked up. "Yeah. He'll... he'll make a good dad, I think. Better than me, I think."

There was silence for a while as her eyes grew almost soft, although nobody noticed, as Arare very quickly continued his conversation.

"Well, Kushina-san," he said, "it's nice to know that we don't have to worry anymore about what's been getting you sick. The nausea should go away soon, right?"

"Well, I _hope_ so," Kushina replied, crossing her arms. "Hey, Sazanka, how long until I'm out of the team for good?"

"Yeah," Hyou added, "you can't just expect to lug a huge stomach around like that."

Sazanka momentarily stopped her griping to think seriously on the subject. She frowned. "I think by your fourth, fifth month, depending on how big you get."

Kushina's face fell. "Only _that_ long?" she said. "That's hardly anything! Stupid baby."

"Kushina-san, please," Arare said, as gently as he could. "Even if you aren't going to raise your child, as you said, you need to stay healthy. You should be getting your rest right now, too."

"What, are you serious?" Kushina whined. "Kagayaki, c'mon. I'm absolutely fine. There's no way in hell I'm gonna let some stupid-ass baby keep me from doing my job!"

Kushina promptly turned green, and vomited in the bushes. Hyou erupted into almost howl-like laughter again; he would probably never forget this day, for all the laughs it had given him.

"I don't think so," Arare said, chuckling gently and smiling in his usual, sad way. "Go on, get your rest. And I won't let you back until you're _really_ feeling better."

"We'll be fine without you, anyways," Hyou added, grinning, and Kushina wiped off her mouth.

"Thanks, Kakougan," she said bitterly, and threw up again.

-///-

For the next month, starting on Valentine's Day, Kushina was on vacation. And she couldn't stand it.

Kushina was a woman who thrived on action, and things to do. This (combined with her foul health) was the absolute last thing she wanted.

She spent a week forcing herself to relax, as Arare had suggested, sitting on the couch and eating discount Valentine's chocolate she got at the store. It tasted good, but wasn't satisfying at all.

One morning, a bit later, she tried to enjoy herself and go for a jog, but she was too tired halfway though, and walked home at a drag to go take a nap.

"Stupid baby..." she mumbled, as she drifted off. "Don't hog all the energy..."

She woke up with an amazing craving for ramen (which was just about the only other thing she could stomach, outside of soda, rice, and crackers), and an unusual idea that filled her with a sort of morbid curiosity. After eating a carton of instant-stuff for lunch, she went to the library.

She returned with several large paperbacks, with titles like "The Baby Book," "Your Pregnancy and You," and "Dr. Takei's Guide to Childbirth and Care," which featured a very friendly-looking oldish man on the cover.

The day ended with Kushina making several disgusted faces, and more than one exclamation of "What the hell?!" How was she to know what a placenta was, and how... gross it looked?! This wasn't something they taught in schools!

The books were very quickly returned the next day.

On the walk home, Kushina had a lot of time to think. She really did have a lot to learn! And it was all stuff she was absolutely foreign with.

Sure, they had a small sex-ed class during her pre-genin years, but she had never really paid attention to that. And any information she could have asked her mother about... well, her mother was dead. She had died when Kushina was 3, on a mission. And her father had died when she was 7; though Kushina doubted, were he still alive, he'd be able to give her any advice on this matter.

As for her older brother, Katsuya, well…nobody knew where the hell he had gone off to, or if he was even _alive _to begin with. So, he was off the list as well.

So, as most parents told their kids the finer points of the "birds and the bees" when the time came, Kushina was rather deprived of this privilege.

In fact, most of what she learned about sex was giggled through other girls, and a rather enthusiastic boyfriend by the name of Inoichi Yamanaka. They had been madly in love when she was 16, and he very much enjoyed a good romp around in bed every week or two.

They were very madly out of love when she was 17; she was 22 now.

Other than what she had learned from those resources, Kushina was pretty much clueless.

"Man, you are one ugly-ass baby," she told the bundle of cells in her uterus—hell, prior to the books, she assumed that babies started out fully-formed and slowly got bigger, but The Baby Book and Dr. Takei very clearly illustrated that was not true. Currently, she was apt to believe a very small, disgusting alien was feeding on her chakra and slowing her down.

"I really hope you don't give me all those yucky stretch marks like I read about," she told it sternly. "Or those yucky veins on my legs. You got that? Okay. And stop it with the vomiting thing!" she added violently. "It sucks!"

Almost as if in response, the morning sickness slowly faded away and became nothing more than a bad memory by mid-March.

With much cheering and jubilation, Kushina rejoined her team, and almost forgot that she was even pregnant. Sure, she was just a _little_ more tired than usual, but that was nothing. Still, the missions continued to get lamer and lamer. She would complain to Arare about it, extensively, but nothing would change.

Then, Sazanka's niece was born.

The pink-haired medic nin came squealing in for a mission on March 29th, absolutely incoherent in happiness until Arare got her to calm down.

"I'm an aunt!" she squeaked. "Omigod, my sister-in-law had her baby last night!"

"Say what?" Hyou and Kushina said.

"Her name is _Sakura_!" Sazanka continued, beginning to hop around. "Omi_god_, she's so _cute_! She looks just like her daddy!"

Arare smiled, sadly, although it was a happy occasion. "Congratulations!" he said. "I can assume she's healthy?"

"Oh yeah. Cries a lot," Sazanka said, and squealed a bit. "Oh, I'm so excited! Kushina, when are you due, again?"

"Huh?" Kushina said.

"When's your baby due? I think that it'll be a schoolmate of Sakura-chan when it's older," Sazanka said. "You should be 'showing' soon, right?"

Kushina's stomach sank, and she subconsciously put her hand over her waist. She _had_ been gaining weight lately...

She frowned. "No idea," she said. "These things take about nine months, right?"

"Right."

"So... if I slept with him in January... maybe September? October? I dunno."

"Are you still planning on letting Hokage-sama raise it?" Arare said, and Kushina nodded vigorously.

"Got any names in mind yet?" Sazanka said cheerily.

Kushina's mouth hung open loosely, before she gave Sazanka an "are you kidding me?" face.

"Uh, no? I don't even know if I'll be the one naming it, to tell the truth," she said, crossing her arms. "The asshole's the one raising it, anyways. Might as well let him name it."

This time, it was Sazanka that frowned. Hyou, however, had taken out a dirty novel and was reading it, uninterested in the girlie business going on about him. Didn't they have a mission to get to?

Arare, as usual, passively watched them talk with a mildly worried expression.

"Well, you're absolutely no fun," Sazanka said. "Don't you have any ideas?"

"What, of names?" Kushina said. Sazanka eagerly nodded. "Okay, fine. Girl or boy, first?"

"Girl, of course!" said Sazanka, and Kushina sighed.

"All right, all right. Huh. Well, I always kinda liked Hinagiku," Kushina said.

"What, _Daisy_?" said Sazanka, wrinkling her nose. "But that's so common!"

"I've always been rather partial to Hina_ta_, rather than Hinagiku," Arare suggested.

"We're not asking your opinion!" the women said, causing Arare to embarrassedly step back a little as they continued.

"How about Yoroko? Y'know, with the kanji for Delight?" Kushina said, thinking unnecessarily hard on the subject.

"I like that one, more," Arare said softly.

"It's _better_," Sazanka admitted, "but still honestly not good enough!"

Kushina sighed. "Why does it even matter, anyways? I'm not the one raising it!"

"Kushina-chan! It's all just for fun!" Sazanka said, looking vaguely outraged. "Now, come on. Let's try some boy's names."

"Okay. Taro."

"Taro?"

"Just Taro."

Hyou laughed, paying just enough attention to notice this, and Sazanka scowled. "You'd honestly do that?"

"Hey, I said I didn't have any names in mind!" said Kushina, stamping her foot on the ground. "Jeeze, Sazanka! It's not like I care! I could name the kid Daikon, and it wouldn't even matter!'"

"You wouldn't name it after a _radish!_" Sazanka gasped.

"So what if I did?" Kushina said, and stuck out her tongue. "I honestly don't care."

"You _should_ care, it's _your_ baby," Sazanka snapped. The two women practically growled at each other, before Arare stood between them.

"Girls, girls, _please _don't fight!" he said. "Sazanka-san, I really think you should leave Kushina-san alone on this matter. She's very stressed."

"I am _not_ stressed!" Kushina protested, stepping forward, but getting blocked by Arare.

"_However_," Arare added, a sting of sternness in his voice, "Kushina-san, you should at least be nice to Sazanka-san."

The women both pouted and refused to look at each other, causing Hyou to close the book on his finger and cross his arms at them. "Seriously, you two," he said.

"Now, we're all very happy about your niece, Sazanka-san," Arare said evenly, "but you still were late. We have to help Kaishuku-san find the rest of his cattle, seeing as they wandered off, and he won't appreciate us being late. So, why don't we just apologize, and put this behind us?"

"...fine," Sazanka said, and sighed. "I'm sorry for being too excited."

Kushina said nothing. Arare peered at her.

"Kushina-san...?"

"Fine, sorry!" she said angrily. "Can we get going, now?"

"Yeah, let's," Hyou said, folding the corner of his page and tucking it into his vest. "I've been waiting for goddamn ages to get going. Stupid cattle."

"To hell with Kaishuku," Kushina mumbled in agreement, as they began to leave. "I want a real damn mission one of these days."


	6. Visiting the Baby Doctor

A/N: Wow! Thanks for all the reviews! 27 for one chapter? I'm so grateful.

It seems that Rinna-kun has proposed making an Arare fanclub. So, who here likes Arare? xD

Minor notes for this chapter.  
- Himawari means Sunflower in Japanese, continuing the "sunlight" theme in Hyuuga names.  
- Natto is a very nasty, soybean based food. Hence, why it's so funny when Kushina thinks of it later.

That's about it. Enjoy the update, review if you wish!

-///-

It was now late April. Kushina preened unsatisfactorily in front of her mirror in her underwear, frowning at the recent bulge of growth she had accumulated. It made her feel astoundingly depressed.

Adding to the fact that her exhaustion was a lot more severe than usual, causing Arare to choose increasingly gentle (and more boring) missions for them, she was absolutely and completely out of sorts.

So, Arare, being the kind person that he was, went the source of her troubles for help: Minato.

"If I keep having to adjust our missions for her, we'll be doing _genin_ level missions, and she'd be in an even worse mood if I did that," he explained, worry in his eyes. "I think it's about time she went and saw a doctor on things. Following her logic," he added with a bit of a smile, "you should go with her."

Minato nodded thoughtfully as he looked Arare over. He then laughed. "We'll think of something."

-///-

"No," Kushina said, quite a few days later. "Like hell I will."

"But it's about time we did," Minato said, standing at her door with Arare. "I've already made our appointment."

"Yes, it's about time, Kushina-san," Arare added helpfully.

"It won't take more than an hour," said Minato.

"And it'll make sure the baby's okay," said Arare.

"Will you two _shut up_?!" Kushina snapped, and the men shrank back. She eyed Minato. "Have you _really_ made an appointment or whatever?"

Minato nodded. "Yes, Dr. Hyuuga is expecting us in about a half hour."

She scowled. "Assholes," she said, and slammed the door.

"Just wait for it," Arare said patiently, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Kushina opened the door moments later, wearing her jacket and ready to go.

"Awright," she said, with the intensity of an army sergeant. "Let's go."

She grabbed Minato's arm with her hand and began marching away with him, leaving Arare behind.

"Good luck!" he called, as they disappeared down the stairs.

A good while passed before Kushina said, "So, where's the office?"

"I'll show you," Minato said with a smile, "if you let go of my arm."

Kushina did, and the Hokage led the way.

Dr. Hyuuga's office was tucked into a small road near the lavish Hyuuga estate, in a small house by Hyuuga standards. By Kushina's standards, however, it was huge. "This is a doctor's office?" she said. "Cripes, the _clinic_ is smaller than this place!"

"Dr. Hyuuga's the best in the field," Minato said, as he walked inside. "Take your shoes off, Uzumaki-san."

Suspiciously, Kushina did so, and they proceeded in slippers to the next room. A Hyuuga girl, identifiable by her silver eyes, sat at a desk and smiled as they came in.

"Hokage-sama, Uzumaki-san, Dr. Hyuuga is waiting for you in the main examination room," she said. "Please, this way." She stood and gestured to her left, where a door and a hallway were located. Minato found the office where Dr. Hyuuga waited.

"…Dr. Hyuuga's a woman?" Kushina said, upon seeing the placid-looking lady sitting in a chair near one corner, across from a cot and another chair. Why this surprised her, she didn't know; most medic nin she knew were female, anyways.

"Yes, Uzumaki-san, I am," she said pleasantly, smiling, but not standing. "Thank you for coming, both of you. Uzumaki-san, please sit on the bed for me."

"I always thought_guys_ were the head doctors on things…" Kushina said, doing so.

"Not so, Uzumaki-san," Minato said, smiling. "Tsunade-sama's one of the greatest medics of our time."

"True..." Kushina admitted. Dr. Hyuuga had gotten out of her chair, and was making slow, careful movements towards the bed.

"You may sit if you'd like, Minato-san," she said, and felt under the bed. Kushina instantly felt slightly weirded-out; not only did she seem to have quite a bit of familiarity with the Hokage, she was also staring at the wall as she searched underneath the bed with her hand.

Finding a stool, she sat on it beside Kushina. "Now, onto introductions. My name is Dr. Himawari Hyuuga, but you may call me Dr. Himawari if you'd like. There's so many Hyuuga out there, it should make things easier for you." She smiled a very kind smile, which seemed to almost warm the room. "I'm going to see how your baby's doing, okay?"

"Sure," Kushina said, staring confusedly as Dr. Himawari rubbed her hands together to warm them. Minato sat down in the chair at the head of the cot, smiling.

"Now, if you please, lay down and remove any sort of covering on your stomach," Dr. Himawari said, still staring at the wall.

"It's called a jacket," Kushina said, zipping it open and pushing up her shirt. "Can't you see that? And look at me when I'm talking to you, it's creepy!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Dr. Himawari said, laughing a little, and turning her head in Kushina's general direction. "I'm blind."

"...is that even possible?" said Kushina, wrinkling her brow. "I mean, you're a Hyuuga. Amazing eyesight's pretty much guaranteed with you guys, right?"

"Uzumaki-san..." Minato began, but was stopped by Dr. Himawari's soft chuckling.

"Things happen," she said pleasantly. "I'm just a strange little abnormality, it seems. Is your jacket off?"

"It is," Kushina said.

"Then we'll get started," she said, and began feeling Kushina's stomach with her hands. It tickled.

"Himawari-san is a real genius," Minato said, looking at Kushina as she struggled to restrain her giggling and squirming. "She and I were friends when we were kids, but she never even became a genin because of-"

"My little eye problem," she finished. She now seemed to be staring at the ceiling.

"Yes, that," Minato said, and laughed a little. "So, instead of going on missions, she went and became the best professional doctor in Konoha."

"Minato-san, please," she said.

"You know you can just call me Minato, Himawari-chan," he said warmly, and she smiled. Kushina scoffed slightly.

"We'll just have to see about that, Nato-kun," she said, causing Kushina to snort unexpectedly. What a ridiculous-sounding nickname! It sounded almost like Natto-kun...

This fact made her laugh even harder.

"Uzumaki-san, please, lay still," Dr Himawari said, and Kushina stopped, noting with relish as Minato smiled embarrassedly, his cheeks tinged with pink. "Well, things seem all right on the outside! Judging from your size, I'd have to say you're about... four months along, at the most?"

Kushina frowned. "Oh, god, seriously? Crap."

"There's nothing wrong with that, Uzumaki-san," said Dr. Himawari.

"Just call me Kushina," Kushina said morosely. At this rate, she'd be done with missions before she knew it! It wasn't very good news to her.

"All right then, Kushina-san," said Dr. Himawari. "Now, I'm going to have to take a look _inside._"

"...inside?" Kushina said, and gulped. "Are you gonna, like, cut me open? Because I'm not doing that!"

Dr. Himawari began to laugh again, and her fingers glowed blue with chakra. "No, nothing like that." She began to move over Kushina's belly, and looked up slowly as she went along. "Oh, oh-oh! This is _much_ better."

"What're you doing?" Kushina said, craning her neck to try and get a view.

"Well, you see," Dr. Himawari explained, "I think that nature compensated me not being able to use the Byakugan by giving me a gift in chakra control. Instead of being able to see chakra lines, I can use chakra to _see_. So, right now," she continued, giving a slight smile, "I'm seeing what your baby looks like by sending weak pulses of chakra out, and forming an image in my mind from what bounces back."

"It's like what bats do, to see in the dark," Minato added. "Only, it's with chakra instead of sound waves. Brilliant, isn't it?"

"Yeah sure," Kushina said, but actually feeling rather impressed. Still, she felt just the slightest bit jealous; clans like the Hyuuga and the Uchiha just had their talent practically _handed_ to them at birth, and it seemed that Dr. Himawari was a prefect example of that, despite her blindness.

"What's the most interesting bit," Minato said, continuing almost proudly as Himawari examined Kushina, "is that she's taught this technique to other nin. It's not just Hyuuga-only. So, she's a very vital doctor of Konoha. You're lucky that I got you in with her," he added, almost smugly.

"Nato-kun, _please_," she said, turning slightly pink. Kushina blinked.

"You taught this to other people?" she said, and Dr. Himawari nodded. "Wow, that's... pretty cool, actually! What did you call it? You did get to name your own technique, right?"

"It's called the Sonar no Jutsu," she replied, laughing a little. "It's useful for checking on organs and things, so I'm trying to have it taught to other medic nin. It really takes a lot of chakra control, though, so only a few others can do it."

"Sweet!" said Kushina. "What else have you done?"

Dr. Himawari paused for a moment, leaning with her ear towards Kushina's stomach, as though she were listening for something, before continuing. "Sorry, I was just checking on the baby's heart," she said. "It takes a bit more concentration to focus on such a small organ and see how it's moving. Oh, well, I don't know..."

"Stop being so bashful, Himawari-chan," Minato smiled, and when she didn't continue asked, "How's the baby?"

"Oh! Well, you're definitely at least 17 weeks gone," she said. "The baby's perfectly healthy, and a very rowdy one too! Do you want to learn the sex?"

"The what?!" Kushina said.

"If it's a boy or a girl," Dr. Himawari said, closing her eyes as she smiled. "I could tell you if you want to know."

"I don't care," lied Kushina.

"How about you, Nato-kun?" she asked, and Minato nodded.

"I'd like to know," he said.

Dr. Himawari nodded, and shifted her hands for a moment, before declaring, "It's a boy."

Kushina nearly sat up in cheering, which would have badly disrupted Dr. Himawari's examination. "Hell yeah! That's awesome news!" she said.

"Why is that?" Minato said, tilting his head a little as he listened to her response.

"Boys are _so_ less sissy than girls," she sighed satisfiedly. "That means I won't have one of those ridiculous girls like Sazanka Haruno."

"Less-sissy, huh?" Minato and Dr. Himawari both said, thoughtfully.

"Hell yeah," Kushina said again, laughing. "Though... damn, it had better not turn out to be an asshole like you," she said, pointing at Minato and frowning. He laughed.

"My goodness, what language," Dr. Himawari said quietly.

"It's all right," Minato said. "Don't worry, Kushina. I'll make sure my son is raised to be a well-mannered young man."

"Absolutely not! Not that, either!" Kushina said, pointing.

"Huh?" said Minato. He blinked. Dr. Himawari took her hands off Kushina's stomach and sat quietly, listening to them.

"I don't wanna be the mother of some pansy-boy!" she swore. "My boy's gonna kick ass!"

"But, I thought you didn't want to raise him," Minato said, smiling gently.

Kushina was silent for a good long while, and Dr. Himawari took the time to stand and tell her she could put her shirt back down. Hastily, she sat up and did so. "I'm not!" she finally replied. "But I'm still his mother! And don't you forget that!"

"Whatever you say," Minato smiled.

"So," Kushina said, addressing Dr. Himawari, "the baby's fine. How long until I have to stop doing missions?"

"If you absolutely insist on it," Dr. Himawari said, "then perhaps two or three more weeks, but nothing more. And _only_ very light missions." Her tone of voice had become very stern, and Kushina couldn't help but find herself listening intently. "It would be very tragic if you were to have a miscarriage, especially at this point."

"Sure, I guess. No problem!" Kushina grinned. "I'll just keep myself from getting stabbed here," she motioned towards her stomach, "and I'll be set!"

"A little more than that, I think," Minato said, laughing

"Hey, what're you laughing at?" Kushina said, glancing up at him condescendingly as she crossed her arms. "I'm being serious."

"Whatever you say," he said again, and started trying to hold back his laughs with his hand.

"Now, I'll see you in three weeks, Kushina-san," Dr. Himawari, losing her stern tone of voice, said. "Perhaps you could join us for our Mommy Class! I have a feeling you'd like it."

"...Mommy Class?" Kushina said, making a face like she had just eaten something disgusting.

"Yes, it's a childcare class and gathering for mothers-to-be," she continued, smiling. "It'll be a good opportunity to meet the mothers of nin your son will be learning with when he's older, don't you think?"

"Whatever," Kushina said, sighing.

"It'll also help make the birthing process easier..." Dr. Himawari added, coyly. This significantly piqued Kushina's interest.

"...okay, then _maybe_ I'll show up to just _one,_" she said. It sure didn't look like a walk in the park, to push a baby through her hip-bones and such a... small opening. She winced at the very thought.

"I thought so," Dr. Himawari said. "We meet every Sunday, so do show up after you retire from missions for a short while. I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

"Sure, whatever," Kushina said dryly, and Minato began to laugh. "You stop that! You've laughed way too damn much today," she said, and reached over, pulling a longish bit of hair that fell over his ears.

"Ow!" he said. "Let go!"

"Kushina-san, what are you doing to him?" Dr. Himawari said, clasping her hands and frowning concernedly.

"Teaching the father of my kid a lesson," Kushina said, and let go.

-///-

Kushina was in a cheerfully angry mood, as they left Dr. Himawari's office together. It was her way of showing excitement.

"Punkass baby," she said, almost satisfiedly. "I swear to god, Namikaze, if you make him a sissy, I'm going to go and knock your face in."

Minato did nothing but laugh and smile, enjoying every ridiculous word that came out of her mouth. "Whatever you want," he said.

"You need to stop laughing so much, too!" she added, slapping him lightly on the back. "It's annoying! And anyways, aren't Hokage supposed to be, I dunno, serious?"

"There's only been three Hokage before me, Uzumaki-san," he said. "So I don't know if there's much 'Proper Conduct' for me to follow."

"Whatever," Kushina said, shrugging.

Suddenly, she stopped in the middle of the road. Minato went on for a few more steps, before noticing that she had left his side.

"Uzumaki-san? Is something the matter?" he asked.

Nothing was the matter, in fact, but something so absolutely mind-blowing had happened to Kushina that she hardly could grasp it.

From somewhere, deep in the bowels of her stomach, there had been a flurry of tiny movements; like an astoundingly tiny kitten, or some other creature, had stretched itself long and curled back up again within her.

Her son had finally given her the first real sign of his presence, his first interaction with her, his first hello.

Kushina was taken aback by the sheer amount of thoughts that flooded her mind upon feeling it happen: She was really pregnant. She was having a kid. There was something _living_ inside of her, something that was going to grow up and become a boy that would run around and play with frogs and come home—home to his father—crying because of a scraped knee, with boogers running down his face.

She was going to be somebody's mother. She _was_ somebody's mother.

"...Uzumaki-san?" Minato said gently, waving his hand in front of her eyes. "Really, are you okay?"

She snapped back to reality and glared at him with a roll of her eyes. "Of course I'm okay, you ass! What made you think otherwise?"

"You just looked like there was something wrong, stopping so unexpectedly," he said. "Do you want me to walk you home, Uzumaki-san?"

"Absolutely not! Buzz off!" she said, and went cheerfully on her way. "Oh, and Namikaze? Call me Kushina, I can't stand being called Uzumaki! You got that?"

He smiled as he watched her go. "I got that, Kushina-san!" he called.

And Kushina, cheerfully angry, went home to enjoy her last three weeks of freedom.


	7. The Mommy Class

A/N: Seriously, I love all you guys.

Thank you, again, for all the reviews! I absolutely love hearing what you have to say.

Some notes on this chapter:  
- Sumire is Japanese for Violet, as in the flower.  
- Hachiko means Bee Child. Seeing as she married into a family with butterfly-themed names, I felt it all too appropriate.  
- Nishibi, the secretary to Dr. Himawari, has a name meaning Setting Sun. Oh, those Hyuuga.

I bet you can all guess who Sumire is the mother of, no

Hopefully, I'll see you next week with a new chapter; I haven't finished writing it just yet...

Please, as usual, read, enjoy, and review if you enjoyed!

-///-

"Well, that's it," Dr. Himawari said, on a Wednesday three weeks later, in mid-May. "You're officially on leave from all and any missions, Kushina-san, and that is that."

Kushina was absolutely crushed. "Already?!" she said.

"I warned you in time..." Dr. Himawari said evenly, as she took her hands off Kushina's stomach. "You were fully aware that I gave you three weeks at the _most_. You shouldn't be surprised."

"But... damn!" Kushina said. "I swore that I had more time!"

"Time flies," said Dr. Himawari. She gave a slight smile. "If you look at it that way, you'll be having your baby and back on your feet in no time at all!"

"Thanks for the advice," Kushina moped. She groaned and sighed and made general unhappy noises, which Dr. Himawari more than noticed.

"Don't worry, you'll have the Mommy Class on Sunday to keep you busy," she said, in a pleasant tone. Kushina groaned more.

"Oh,_ that,_" she said, sitting up and staring at the ceiling. "Yeah, we'll have to see about that. I dunno."

"You seemed more than willing, three weeks ago," Dr. Himawari said.

"Yeah. That was last week," said Kushina, and got off the cot. "Let me think about it for a bit. See you when, for the next appointment?"

"Four weeks from now," Dr. Himawari said, and Kushina left. Dr. Himawari sat on her stool for a while, before carefully returning it under the cot, and making her way towards her receptionist.

"Nishibi-chan," she said, "could you please write a letter for me?"

"Of course, ma'am," she replied, and took out a pen and paper, ready to write down whatever Himawari said. "To whom is it addressed?"

"Minato Namikaze," Dr. Himawari replied.

-///-

Sunday arrived, and Kushina lazed about her apartment (with her son periodically letting her know he was around, with a small wiggle or two), decidedly not in the mood for any sort of class or business involving Mommies.

Therefore, when somebody knocked on her door around 11 AM, she answered in a pair of boxers and a tank top, looking decidedly unkempt.

Much to her misfortune, Minato stood there with a wide grin on his face.

"Get dressed, it's time to go!" he said, in a disgustingly cheerful way.

She slammed the door in his face. He knocked again; this time, she opened the door a creak, peering at him suspiciously. "What do you want?" she said.

"Your Mommy Class is in a half hour; I'm bringing you there," he said.

Kushina shut the door (trying to slam it as best she could) again. Once more, Minato knocked.

"There is no way in _hell_ I'm going to that class!" she yelled.

"Well," Minato said, thoughtfully, from beyond the door, "I could get the_ANBU_ to come help escort you there, if you're so uncomfortable..."

"...FINE!" Kushina yelled. "Give me a minute!"

She was dressed in overalls and a long-sleeved shirt (which was somewhat stretched over her belly, as she hadn't bought any maternity clothes at all), and ready to go very soon after. Her hair was still a right mess. "Goddamn abuse of power, you asshole," she mumbled, as they made their way towards Dr. Himawari's office.

"Don't worry; I'll sit in the class with you, Kushina-san," he said, smiling.

"You'd better," she said bitterly.

As they were about to enter the office, a small peeping noise was heard from above, and Minato looked up to find a small bird overhead. It must not have been a good sign, because his face fell.

"...oh, man, seriously?!" he said, and slapped himself in the forehead. Kushina gave him a strange face.

"What's up?" she said.

"I'm being called away," he groaned. "Kushina-san, I'm so sorry! I really wanted to come! I'll have to talk to you later!"

Before she could get so much as a, "Wait, what the hell?!" in, Minato had vanished in a flash of yellow hair, and the receptionist was at the door to greet her.

"So nice that you decided to join us today, Uzumaki-san," Nishibi said, bowing. "Please, this way. Dr. Hyuuga and the rest of the women are waiting for you."

"But I didn't _decide_ to come today!" Kushina protested, but found herself ushered in an irresistably polite manner, and into a room apart from the room she usually had her examinations in.

Three other women sat with Dr. Himawari, on the floor: One of them was annoyingly blonde, dressed in a fluffy purple maternity outfit. Kushina had to hold back her gag reflex upon viewing it.

The other had plain black hair, and looked rather bored in her plain, cream-colored dress.

The final woman was dressed even shabbier than Kushina, seemingly in drawstring pants and a sweatshirt, and sporting red face paint for some reason. It must have been a clan thing. She also seemed to be the biggest of the lot, in terms of belly size; the other two were more around Kushina's size.

"I can assume from that walk that Kushina-san has arrived," Dr. Himawari said, pleasantly, feeling the patterns Kushina's feet formed as they thumped the tatami. "So nice of you to join us. Please, sit on the floor."

"Uh, thanks," Kushina said, and uncomfortably situated herself between the bored woman and the shabby one, wanting to be as far away from the blonde one as possible; there was something annoyingly familiar about her...

"Is there anyone yet to come?" the blonde asked.

"Mikoto-san," Dr. Himawari replied. "By the way, Hachiko-san said she might bring her son in for next week's meeting, did you hear?"

"No!" the blonde said, looking delighted. The shabby woman's eyes widened, while the bored woman continued to look bored. "Oh, what was his name again?"

"Chouji," said Dr. Himawari, and beamed. "Such a healthy little boy! A little under in weight, but he'll be just fine."

"Oh, I bet he's just adorable," said the blonde, and continued to chat with Dr. Himawari. Kushina yawned, and glanced at the bored woman beside her. She might as well try her luck.

"So, uh, what's up?" she asked. The bored woman tilted her head at her.

"You're the one that got knocked-up by the Hokage, aren't you?" she replied.

Kushina winced, very slightly. Just how fast did word get around?! "Uh, yeah," she replied, and glared a little. "Got a problem with that?"

"No, not really," the woman replied, looking away as the blonde laughed about something. "I'd want to congratulate you, actually. But then again, you sleep with a man once, and you give him all _sorts_ of ideas."

Kushina gave her a bit of a strange look, and the bored woman glanced at her again. "What's your name?" she said.

"Uh, Kushina," she replied. "And you?"

"Yoshino. Pleasure, I guess," she replied. "So, not here by choice, eh? I heard you out in the hallway."

"Yeah, not really," Kushina replied, nodding. "That asshole of a man that got me into this mess dragged me out of my apartment, practically."

"Did he, now?" Yoshino said, sounding mildly interested. "Seems we're a bit alike, then, though my husband's serving in the war right now. So he's out a lot. I come here just to pass the time."

"Huh," said Kushina.

"By the way, that's Tsume-san over there," Yoshino said, pointing at the shabby woman. Tsume gave a jaunty little wave, before proceeding to pick her nose. "She's not half bad. _That_ woman, though," she said, pointing to the blonde, "is Sumire-san. She's not exactly the type of girl you or I might get along with, if my first impressions are correct."

Kushina didn't bother answering, as the sliding door banged open, and a woman in a plain, light blue dress entered, looking somewhat disheveled. "Sorry I'm late!" she said. "Somebody decided to be fussy with his breakfast, this morning. Dr. Himawari, I do hope you don't mind that I brought Itachi today."

"Not at all, Mikoto-san," Dr. Himawari said.

"Oh,_ thank_ you," the woman named Mikoto said, putting down her bag as a very small child peered out from behind her legs. "I _tried_ asking Fugaku if he could watch him for the afternoon, but he said he was busy. He just never finds the time..."

Fugaku. Kushina knew that name—he was the head of the Uchiha police team.

She subconsciously groaned. She was dealing with Uchiha, those elite snobs with the bloodline that was more like a cheap way to learn jutsu than a gift, she felt. Already, she was beginning to dread the rest of this class.

Sumire, meanwhile, was melting.

"Oh, Itachi-kun! You're so cute!" she squealed. "I swear, you're so much bigger than when I last saw you! You're such a big boy!"

Kushina and Tsume both rolled their eyes, while Yoshino simply watched on, apathetically. Itachi said nothing.

"Itachi," Mikoto said firmly, "what do you say?"

"...thank you," Itachi finally replied, in a stoic, tiny-child voice, before tugging on his mother's skirt and going, "Do I have to sit next to you today?"

"Yes, my dear, you must," Mikoto said, sitting on her knees between Tsume and Sumire. "Come on, now, sit down."

"All right," Itachi said resolutely, and sat rigidly beside his mother as the class began.

"Now," Dr. Himawari said pleasantly, "is everyone seated?" Everyone was. "Good, I have a newcomer to introduce." She then went silent, and afterwards cleared her throat. "Um, Kushina-san? Would you like to say something about yourself?"

"Oh, me?" she said, and Dr. Himawari nodded. "Well, uh, hi. I'm Kushina Uzumaki, and I got dragged here without my consent."

Tsume gave a series of laughs, almost like an animal sneezing, while Mikoto politely giggled. Yoshino and Itachi seemed equally disinterested.

"Shall I take over from here?" Dr. Himawari said, and Kushina shrugged.

"Sure, I guess," she said.

"Right," said Dr. Himawari. "Kushina-san is about 20 weeks along with a baby boy, due in October. She'll be trying her best to come and attend the classes with the rest of us."

"Wonderful to have you with us!" Mikoto said, in a sunny way that was very annoyingly reminiscent of Minato.

"Sure, whatever," Kushina said lowly. Tsume gave another sniff-laugh.

"Now, won't the rest of you introduce yourselves?" Dr. Himawari continued, nodding her head in their general direction. "Mikoto-san, you first?"

"Oh, of course," she said. "I'm Mikoto, it's nice to meet you. I'm having a boy, due in July. Tsume-san?"

"Tsume; boy too, July too," Tsume said tersely, though grinning.

"Yoshino. Boy, September," Yoshino said, almost yawning.

"My gosh, you guys, you're all being so… impersonal about this!" Sumire said, seeing as it was her turn. "I'm Sumire, and I'm having a little girl in September too."

"Wish_I_ was having a girl," Tsume said, rolling her eyes a little. "Just like my little Hana. She'd love to have a little sister." She sighed. "Oh well. Boys ain't so bad, anyways."

"How's that Hana of yours doing, anyways?" Yoshino said, resting her head on her hand. "Isn't she usually with you?"

"I got Kuromaru to take care of her this afternoon," Tsume replied. "Best babysitters, I tell you. Dogs are the best."

"If you washed them once in a while..." Sumire said disapprovingly, wrinkling her nose.

"They do _not _stink, Sumire," Tsume said poisonously. Sumire stuck her nose in the air and said nothing.

"Now, now, please," Dr. Himawari said, sensing the seeds of a rather nasty conflict taking root, "let's get back on-topic, shall we? We all know that we're having the Daddy Class on the first meeting of each month, which isn't very far from here. Have you all talked to your husbands?"

"I have," Yoshino yawned. "He's coming; got a pardon and all. He knows better than to not."

"Mine too!" Sumire said, jumping immediately back into a perky mood. "Oh, he just can't wait!"

Tsume laughed. "If I had one, sure. Ain't the case with either of my kiddos, though," she said.

Kushina thought on this for a moment, before realizing, "You're not married?"

"Absolutely not!" Tsume replied, grinning. "All my kids are just adorable little 'surprises' from my nights out. I love 'em to death."

Sumire glanced away, disapprovingly. "I honestly can't see how you can_live_ with bastard children like that."

"At least my husband's not a closet homo, am I right?" Tsume said, and began to laugh alone as Sumire turned bright red. Dr. Himawari held her forehead in her hand, while Mikoto smiled, almost embarrassedly, along. Yoshino and Itachi seemed to be having a staring contest. Neither of them seemed to be winning or losing.

"Tsume-san, please, don't insult Sumire-san," Dr. Himawari said, as Kushina blinked, trying to digest what exactly was going on. She then got the sneaking feeling that she'd like this Tsume, and grinned. "Kushina-san, now, I don't suppose I've had the opportunity to tell you about this. Would you like to ask Minato-san to come with you on June 3rd?"

"Dunno," Kushina said, shrugging again. "The asshole was supposed to-"

She never got to complete her sentence, on account of Sumire.

"So_you're_ the one!" she squealed.

"I'm the one...?" Kushina echoed.

"Oh, I heard rumors of the Hokage having a child with someone! I just never expected someone like..." She trailed off, wrinkling her nose as some very obviously rude answers came to her mind, left unsaid, "...someone like you would be the one!" She gave a saccharine smile.

Kushina frowned. "Hey, it's not like I _wanted_ this baby," she said. "It was a complete accident."

"Wait, no way!" Tsume said, leaning forward a little to put her elbow on her knee, and her head on her palm. "You snagged the Hokage?!"

"Yeah, I did," Kushina said, an almost prideful tone in her voice.

"Nice work!" Tsume said, and reached forward with her hand raised for a high-five. Kushina grinned, completely forgetting Sumire as they slapped hands. Sumire rolled her eyes. "How'd you do it?"

"Simple. A little sake, a little sweet-talk, a little sex-" She would have said more, had she not suddenly remembered the small child of about four that was currently continuing his staring contest with Yoshino. "Ah," she said quickly, stopping herself. "Well, you get the point."

"Certainly seems that _you've_ found a friend here in class, Tsume-chan," Sumire said icily. "Finally, somebody you can share your little _escapades_ with."

Before Tsume could retort, Kushina had slammed her fist on the tatami. "I said it was an accident!" she said.

"Sure doesn't sound like one," Sumire replied, smirking.

"Well... it was!" Kushina said. "I didn't plan for _this_," She pointed to her stomach, "to happen!"

"That's what you get," Sumire said. "Are you planning on marrying him, now?"

"Hey, get off her back!" Tsume said. "We're here to talk about babies and stuff, right? Now how we _got _here in the first place! Doesn't really matter, anyways," she added, crossing her arms. "It's the same process for all of us. Chick plus dick equals, most of the time, something."

"You vulgar excuse of a woman!" Sumire said, rising to her knees and pointing at Tsume.

"And proud of it!" Tsume replied, laughing. Dr. Himawari was rubbing at her temples with her fingers. This was going to be a very long meeting.

Itachi lost the staring contest, and tugged on his mother's sleeve. "Do I_really _have to be here?" he asked.

"Itachi, you know I can't leave you at home alone just yet," Mikoto said gently. "Maybe in another year, when you join the Ninja Academy." Itachi frowned.

"All right," he said, and continued to stare at Yoshino again, who showed absolutely no interest in the argument going on.

"Have you two cooled down?" Mikoto continued, asking Tsume and Sumire. The women, who had angrily begun not-looking at each other, nodded. "Good. Kushina-san, I'm glad to have you with us. Are you excited about your son?"

"Well... I dunno, really," Kushina replied. "I mean, I'm not going to raise it."

Sumire snorted, and Kushina gave her a glare to end all glares. "Hey, you got a problem with that?!"

"Oh, nothing," Sumire said flightily. "Just finding it interesting how you're so _unconcerned_ with raising your child."

"Hey, you shut your-" Kushina began, but was surprised to find Mikoto interrupting her.

"Sumire-san, please! Hold your tongue," she said, frowning. "I don't like how you're so mean to Kushina-san. Her child is her own business, and what she does with it is hers as well. Kushina-san," she added, smiling at her, "it's all right if you're giving your son up for adoption. Not everyone is really up for raising a child."

"His father's going to be raising him, you know..." Kushina said, somewhat bashfully. Her eyes drifted towards the floor. Sumire gasped.

"You don't _say_!" she said. "My, isn't that just _wonderful!_" The way she said it, it could easily have been either sarcasm or amazement. Either way, Kushina was annoyed by it.

"Sumire-san..." Mikoto said, sighing. Fortunately, before another argument could arise, Dr. Himawari cleared her throat.

"Let's get on with some exercises, shall we?" she said. "Everyone spread out."

As they did so, Itachi moved to the door to watch, as his mother situated herself on the floor next to Kushina. She smiled at her, which Kushina didn't very much like, and kept her eyes fixed on the floor as they began a series of astonishingly easy stretches.

She didn't quite know what to think of this Mikoto Uchiha.

-///-

The class ended far longer than Kushina was happy with. She would have been content to sit next to Yoshino or Tsume and talk, but unfortunately, the nature of the class seemed to promote either silence, or death (or both, if you thought about it), so she kept her mouth shut.

Sumire was being astoundingly annoying through the whole thing by constantly glancing over her shoulder at Kushina and smirking. Kushina would respond with annoyed, hateful glances of her own., sometimes accompanied by Tsume. It was about all the satisfaction she got out of the class, giving Sumire the dirty looks she deserved.

Kushina and Tsume had sighed, relieved, when Dr. Himawari said that the class was over with, and that she would see them next week. As Kushina was getting up, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and saw Mikoto standing over her, smiling, holding her son's hand.

"I really liked having you in class today, Kushina-san," she said. "Hopefully, I'll see you next week?"

"Yeah, sure," Kushina said distractedly, frowning. Mikoto, on the other hand, smiled.

"Goodbye!" she said, and opened the screen door to leave. Her voice was heard in the hallway, after she had disappeared from view. "Oh, Hokage-sama! Kushina-san is in the room, waiting for you."

So the asshole was _finally_ back, Kushina thought bitterly, and stood as Minato came into the room.

Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly—she couldn't decide) Sumire was the first to speak to him, upon his entrance. "Why _hello_, Hokage-sama, so _nice_ to _see_ you," she said, her voice sickly-sweet. Kushina rolled her eyes.

"It's nice to see you too," Minato replied, before quickly addressing Kushina. "How did the class go?"

"It was stupid," Kushina said, fully aware that Dr. Himawari and Sumire were still in the room—Yoshino and Tsume had already gone, with Mikoto. "Total waste of my time. _Total_ waste."

"Oh, that's too bad," Minato said. "Do you feel that way, Sumire-san?"

Sumire smiled nervously and waved her hand around. "Oh, not at all! It's just so much _fun_ to see everyone each week!"

"Like hell it is," Kushina said, under her breath.

"Different types of fun for different people, I suppose," Minato said. "How do you think it went, Himawari-chan?"

"Rather well," Himawari said, sounding vaguely exhausted.

"Well, that's good," Minato smiled. "I'll walk you home, Kushina-san. You can tell me all about it then, okay?"

"Fine," Kushina said, and began heading towards the door—but not before sneaking a stuck-out tongue to Sumire. Sumire more than noticed, and decided to do something about it.

"Hokage-sama!" she said. "One question! Is it true that Kushina-san won't be raising the child she's having with you? Because I just didn't understand all that well when the subject came up."

Kushina clenched her fist (her son adding what she felt was a little flutter of protest as well), but Minato merely smiled and replied, calmly, "Why, yes, that's true. We're having a son together, and I'm going to raise him. Now, I'm trying to keep it a bit on the down-low," he added, leaning forward in a way that was entirely too nice, "so if you feel it'll harm my reputation, please keep on the hush-hush until after he's born. All right?"

Sumire turned bright pink. "I-if you say so, Hokage-sama," she said. "Well! I couldn't be happier for the two of you," she added, a little forcedly, with an equally forced smile. "Of course, I'll honor your request."

"Thank you!" Minato said. "Kushina-san?"

Kushina didn't reply, and stomped out of the building. He caught up with her quickly.

"You're too damn nice, you know that?" she said, grumbling, once he was by her side. "How can you even manage the negotiations going on with this goddamn war?"

Not many people in Konoha knew about the current war with Rock; a peaceful civilization was one that was left unaware of the goings-on at the front line, after all. The only reason Kushina knew about the war was because she wasn't allowed to participate in it, on account of her current state. It pissed her off immensely. "Niceness doesn't solve those sorts of things," she added.

"Oh, civility gets you further than you would think, Kushina-san," Minato said, nodding.

"Yeah, whatever," Kushina replied.

"So," Minato continued, "how was the class? Did you make any friends?"

"Eh," Kushina replied. "There was a girl there that wasn't so bad. Tsume, I think her name was. Then this Yoshi-something woman, she was mostly kinda bored. And then Mikoto Uchiha." She looked at the sky upon saying her name. "She was okay, I guess. And then that Sumire bitch was just awful."

"You don't say," Minato said.

"Yeah! I mean, she's... she's yeah," Kushina said, unable to think of any proper adjectives to describe Sumire. "I didn't like her."

"I see," said Minato. Kushina glanced at him.

"Not in the mood for saying much today, I see," she said, sarcastically.

He laughed. "I'm sorry," he said, "I just wanted you to tell me what you did."

"We did stretches and discussion. Really stupid, total waste of my time," Kushina said. "I told you before."

"Ah," Minato said. "Are you planning on attending next week's class?"

Kushina thought on this food a good long while, before nodding. "Might as well," she said. "It'll keep me from getting super-bored."

Minato smiled. "I had a feeling you'd say that," he said. Kushina rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, well, whatever," she said, before remembering something. "Oh, that's right. You _have_ to come to the class on the 3rd, you got that?"

"June 3rd, is that right?" Minato said. "I could see if I could do that."

"You'd better," Kushina said sternly. "I swear, you have to, to even come _close_ to making up for missing today. In fact," she added, grinning deviously, "I might as well take off some of your 'debt' right now."

"My debt?" said Minato, blinking. Kushina began to walk backwards a little, and unexpectedly formed a hand sign—the tiger seal, Minato noticed. Just what exactly was she going to do to him?!

"Yeah," she said, tilting her head in an expression of utmost arrogance. "Your debt."

In a flurry of legs, she rushed forward and dug her fingers deep into the seat of Minato's pants, sending him flying several feet into the air.

"Uzumaki Family Secret Technique: _1000 Years of Pain!_" she said, and watched in satisfaction as he landed and reeled in pain. "Ha, still got it," she said, and smirked. "Consider your debt half-paid, Namikaze!"

And as she walked off, doing a mental victory dance set to the erratic rhythm of her son's kicking, Minato found himself smiling, even though it felt like he had been raped with a steel rod.

"Man, I _have_ to teach that to Kakashi and Obito."


	8. Babies and Balls

A/N: Sorry for the later update! I've been in a theatre production of Blood Brothers, lately, and opening night was tonight! I've been bogged down with rehearsals and everything. (If anyone's in the Minneapolis area, please contact me and let me know if you can attend one of our performances!)

Some notes on this chapter:  
- Gyouza is the Japanese word for potstickers, or fried dumplings.  
- Ichigo, as many of you probably know, means "Strawberry" in Japanese.

That's about it. So please read, enjoy, and review if you enjoyed!  
There's some drama-llamas ahead in the story, I fear...

-///-

It pissed Kushina off immensely when June 3rd arrived, and absolutely nothing happened.

She had made extra-specially sure that she was at Hokage Manor an hour before class was due to start, marching with Minato to Dr. Himawari's office.

"Unfortunately, we've had to cancel the class, due to Hyuuga-sensei being ill," her secretary, Nishibi, said upon their entry. "I'm terribly sorry."

Kushina was in the right mind to grant Minato another Thousand Years of Pain, but she realized it was simply not his fault, and thus stomped off to be bored and dissatisfied for the rest of the day.

When the phone rang for her about a week later, she was almost pleasantly surprised to hear Sazanka on the line.

"Hey, um, Kushina-san?" the answering machine said, picking up and playing the call. "It's me, Sazanka." Like that wasn't obvious. "Listen, um, Arare-kun's gone and split up our team, because, well, we're not doing too well without you..."

Kushina, from her lounge on the couch, raised an eyebrow. They weren't?

"So... I have the day off from my temp job, and I was wondering if maybe you'd be up for going shopping with me, or something?" Sazanka's voice continued. "I'll buy you some lunch or tea, if that's what you want..."

Unexpectedly, Kushina found herself dashing to the phone and picking it up. "Lunch, you say?" she said, panting a little.

It_was_ about time that she have a little contact with somebody outside the Mommy Class. A person like Kushina could only go so far without risking the chance of insanity.

-///-

"Wow, when you said 'temp' job," Kushina said, walking with Sazanka through the shopping district near her apartment, "you really meant it!"

Sazanka, it seemed, was now the substitute teacher for the Kunoichi Class at the Ninja Academy. However, she rather liked it.

"Yeah, well, it's a good change in pace," Sazanka replied, utterly bypassing the fact that they really had been doing only genin-level stuff for the past few months. "It's more like a vacation than an actual job, I think. The little girls are so cute!"

"Yeah, I bet," Kushina said flatly. She was not particularly fond of little girls. "What're Kakougan and Kagayaki up to?"

"Hyou-san's taken over as sensei for some genin team," Sazanka said, and leaned in to whisper, "I hear their actual sensei was killed out in Rock."

"Y'don't say," Kushina said, slightly uncomfortable. "And Kagayaki?"

"He's taking the weekend off, I think," Sazanka said. "He's probably going to teach with me at the Ninja Academy when he comes back. They're _super_ short on staff."

"Huh," said Kushina. "So... is it boring? What kinds of stuff are you doing?"

"Mostly cultural activities," said Sazanka. "We're starting on _ikebana_ soon―oh, look!" She stopped, and tugged on Kushina's sleeve as she skipped into a nearby shop. "You _need_ maternity clothes, Kushina-san, you can't live in a jacket forever."

Kushina groaned as Sazanka began to flip through hangers with a cheeky smile.

"Haruno, not _now,_" she said. "I don't _need_ them."

Sazanka gave her one of her oft-practiced Looks. "Don't kid yourself. That's your only pair of overalls. I _know_ they are."

True, Kushina had long since grown out of her last pair of pants, and was giving her overalls the most use they had seen in years. "Well," she said, defeated, "I _could_ use a pair of pants..." She frowned. "But I sure as hell won't buy another _kimono_." Even though it probably would be really comfortable...

"Another?" Sazanka said, blinking.

"Nevermind!" said Kushina, and busied herself in looking for a blouse.

"Okay...?" said Sazanka, then sighing. Well, at least she was even _looking_ for clothes. "There's so many cute styles to choose from, these days," she said, as Kushina looked over a series of empire-waisted shirts. "Y'know what, if you like one enough, I'll... buy it for you."

Kushina stopped, and looked over her shoulder with a grin. "Oh, you _would_, huh?"

Sazanka immediately sensed that she had said something Kushina would royally screw her over for, later. "Er, yeah," she said, anyway. Might as well.

"Okay," Kushina said, and continued searching through the blouses. She held up one in a peach-pink fabric, and tilted her head. "This one's not so bad."

"Oh, but it's _pink,_" Sazanka said, shaking her head. "That would look _awful_ with your hair."

Kushina cast her a sarcastic glance, and held up the blouse to her face. "But it's _orange_," she replied.

"Uh... no. That's pink. Peach pink."

"But peaches are _orange,_" Kushina said, wiggling the blouse for emphasis. "Ooo-raaaan-gggge."

Sazanka sighed. "All right, so it's orange," she said. "You like it?"

Kushina smirked, and nodded at the thing. "Yeah, it's decent," she replied.

"All right. Well, um, Kushina-san, I'll go and find some pants for you, okay?" Sazanka said, stepping towards the back of the shop. "You keep browsing."

"Will do," Kushina said boredly, folding the orange-not-pink-peach blouse over her arm, hanger and all.

Sazanka returned with three pairs of pants slung over her shoulder by their hangers. "I got denim, khaki, and black for you," she said, approaching Kushina. "What've you found?"

She held up two new hangers, each displaying a shirt: One blue, one green.

"Ah, nice choices," said Sazanka―they really _were_ sensible, which she found somewhat surprising. "You should get a white one too..."

Quickly, Sazanka found one, and thrust it in Kushina's face. "Here, take this and go back there. Try them on." She added the pants to the pile in Kushina's arms. "Go _on_, go!"

"All right, all right!" Kushina said, and disappeared... laughing?

Needless to say, Kushina was very much pleased with the pants Sazanka had found, as well as her own blouses, and they ended up (after much haggling) splitting their money cleanly in half to get them all.

She was still very resolute to keep her beloved, trusty overalls, however.

They walked away, Sazanka very excited, but Kushina rather more hungry. "I know a good ramen stand," she said. "You wanna go get some?"

"Sure, I guess," Sazanka said. She was holding the shopping bags.

"Kay, follow me," Kushina said, and quickly found the Ichiraku Ramen stand. She had become somewhat of a regular customer in recent times, on account of her constant craving of choice. Teuchi, the owner, had come to know her by name.

"Ah, Kushina-san! How's that baby of yours?" he said warmly.

"Okay, I guess," Kushina replied. "Can I have an order of the usual, Old Man?"

"Sure thing," said Teuchi, winking. "And you?" he asked Sazanka.

"Uh, actually," Sazanka said, pointing her thumb behind her, "I saw a good gyouza stand back there. I'm gonna go get an order, okay?"

"Sure," said Kushina, and Sazanka skipped off, leaving the shopping behind.

"So, just naruto ramen for you, then?" said Teuchi, and Kushina nodded. "Coming right up."

Kushina sighed and rested her head on her hand. Apparently, she was smiling, because Teuchi chuckled. "My, you certainly look happy, Kushina-san," he said. "Are things going better between you and Hokage-sama?"

If Kushina had been drinking something, she most certainly would have spit it out. "Going what?!" she said.

"Going better," Teuchi repeated. "Are things mending between you two? I haven't seen you together since when you first gave him the news. You threw a bowl at him," he added, chuckling.

Damn, that old man had a long memory! Kushina thought. "Well… yeah, I guess they are," she said. "He's coming by to visit all the time and ask how I'm doing. Or something."

"My, that's good," said Teuchi. He winked. "I hear this is supposed to be on the down-low, you know. Your secret's safe with me, Kushina-chan!"

"Gack! Don't call me that, will you?" said Kushina, pounding her fist on the table. Teuchi chuckled, and teased the noodles with the broth.

"Do you want this to go? I see that your friend went off to find an order of her own…" he said, peering at her from the top of his eyes.

"Sure, why not?" said Kushina.

"All right then. Ayame-chan!" Teuchi called into the back of the shop. "Get me a carry-out bowl!"

"Okay, Papa!" A little girl, probably 8 or 9 years old, bounced from the back of the shop and was barely visible over the counter as she handed her father a stack of durable, plastic containers. "A to go order?"

"That's right, my dear," said Teuchi, and separated a bowl from the stack to put Kushina's order in. "Say hello to Kushina-san, Ayame."

"Hi, Kushina-san!" the little girl said. Kushina weakly waved back.

"My, she's so cute!" Sazanka said, and Kushina jumped a little. It seemed that the Haruno was back. "How old are you?"

"I turned 9 just this last April," she replied, beaming.

Sazanka beamed in return. Kushina, not so much.

"Back into the shop with you, my dear!" said Teuchi playfully. "I need you to finish the dishes."

"Sure, Papa!" Ayame said, and bowed to the customers. "Bye-bye!" And, with that, she was gone.

"My, isn't she adorable," said Sazanka. "Have you gotten your order, Kushina-san?"

"Yeah, hold on a bit," said Kushina. Teuchi placed a lid on the plastic bowl and handed it to Kushina.

"That'll be 300 ryuu, please," he said. Kushina blinked.

"Why so cheap?" she said.

"It's on me," Teuchi said. "Honestly."

"If you insist…" said Kushina, and after fishing around in her frog-shaped wallet (which Sazanka could never quite understand the significance of, no matter how hard she tried to ask), gave Teuchi three coins, and left the stand with Sazanka.

"I found someone to eat with us for lunch, you know!" said Sazanka, leading the way towards a small park. "You'll never guess who?"

Kushina groaned. "It's not the Asshole, is it?"

Sazanka confusedly shook her head. "What… asshole?"

Of course, Kushina meant Minato. Where _had _he been, anyways? She didn't know. But she decided not to say. "Um, Kagayaki?"

"No, no!" said Sazanka. "It's even better!"

"Then just tell me, already!" Kushina said.

"Sazanka, over here!" a voice called, and her question was answered.

It was Sazanka's mouse-haired sister-in-law and her infant niece, Sakura, together on the bench.

Sakura was dressed smartly in an outfit that was the pale shade of green tea, which complimented the pale pink fuzz of her hair very nicely. Not that Kushina noticed that, anyways (though Sazanka certainly did), but it looked nice all the same.

"I ran into them just a few minutes ago!" Sazanka said. "While I was getting my lunch, you know? I thought it might be a good experience for you!"

Kushina peered warily at the green tea baby, who was currently nestled in the crook of her mother's arm, and ended up sitting on the far side of the bench. "Sit between us while I eat," she said gruffly, and split her chopsticks. They broke evenly, which struck her as surprising.

"Sorry she's being so rude…" Sazanka said to Sakura's mother, sitting between them as Kushina wanted. "She's like this all the time."

"It's all right, it's all right!" the woman replied, and leaned over to get a better look at Kushina. "It's very nice to finally meet you. I'm Ichigo."

"And that's-" Sazanka began, but was interrupted as Kushina said, "Sakura. I know, that niece of yours. You told me."

Ichigo began laughing a little as Sazanka turned slightly red and got very interested in her gyouza. "Been talking about little Sakura, have we?"

"Yeah, she won't shut up about it," Kushina replied, and slurped at some noodles. She grinned after swallowing. "Kinda cute, though."

Ichigo laughed, and bounced Sakura a little bit on her lap. "Thank you," she said. "Would you like to hold her?"

Kushina's face said only one thing, her mouth full of noodle: "Are you kidding me?"

"Okay, okay," Ichigo laughed. "After you finish."

Kushina nodded, and Sazanka began to tackle her gyouza. "Well, I suppose it's time for lunch for us, too," Ichigo continued, and resituated Sakura to her other arm as she began to-

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Kushina yelled, pieces of noodle flying out of her mouth.

"Doing what?" Ichigo said, in the middle of zipping open her blouse.

"You're… exposing yourself!!" Kushina said, waving her arms wildly. "What the hell!"

"Well, Sakura has to eat, too," Ichigo said matter-of-factly. "There's nothing wrong with it."

"Yes there is! There could be… perverts around!" Kushina said, glowering, and returning to her noodles.

Ichigo laughed, while Sazanka simply stared, wondering what in the world Kushina was going on about. Ichigo was just _breast-feeding_, nothing… sexy about that. Unless there was some sort of fetish out there for… no, she'd best not think of that. "I don't think I'll have to worry about that," Ichigo said, and attached Sakura to a pink nipple beneath her shirt. Modestly, she produced a small blanket from somewhere and covered the baby's head with it.

It was almost like some sort of murder scene, or the aftermath of a disastrous mission, because while Kushina was utterly disgusted, she couldn't bring herself to look away. Her noodles dangled limply from her chopsticks and proceeded to grow ice cold before Ichigo noticed. "Something the matter?" she said.

"Er, no. Nothing. Nothing wrong at all," Kushina said, sounding thoroughly unconvincing. "It's just... well, your _boob_..."

"All right," Ichigo said, laughing, and removed Sakura to have her suck from the other breast. "By the way, Kushina-san. Sazanka told me about your son, and… well, are you planning on breast-feeding him too?"

Kushina spit out a ripe mouthful of noodle. "What?! No! Absolutely not!"

Ichigo blinked. "You're not?"

Kushina harshly shook her head. "Ab-so-lute-ly-not," she said. "I'm not raising the thing."

"Oh, but you don't mean you won't visit him!" said Ichigo. "Won't you?"

"Depends on how busy I am," Kushina said, and managed to cool herself down enough to slurp on her noodles. "I mean, I'm totally going back to work as soon as I can. So I'll be busy."

"But his father's the _Hokage_," Sazanka said, a dumpling poised at the end of her chopsticks, the words slipping from her mouth before she could do anything about them. "He'll be far busier than you, won't he?"

"Naw, he won't," Kushina said, with unusual certainty in her voice. She was nodding. "He cares way more about this kid than me. He'd better damn well make sure he'll have enough time to make sure the kid doesn't turn out all... sick or whatever."

Her baby gave a tactful thump, as if to voice agreement, or some other appropriate metaphor.

"Either way," Ichigo remarked, continuing, "breast-feeding does wonders for losing all that baby-weight, Kushina-san. Didn't you know? It would do you well if you at least considered it, to get you back your feet faster."

Ichigo had a dry, persuasive smile on her face. Kushina diverted her eyes as she thought.

"...well, that doesn't sound so bad," said Kushina. She nodded some more. "You know what? That's an idea. Maybe I'll visit the kid to feed him. But only until he's too old to need to. You know? Yeah." Kushina was a veritable nodding machine.

Sazanka had begun giggling a little. Oh, this was too wonderful! Even though her reasons were entirely selfish, Kushina was finally showing some interest in her baby!

She shot a delighted glance in Ichigo's direction, who smiled back and caused Kushina to glare at them suspiciously as she finished her ramen.

Sakura finished her lunch as well, not long after, and Ichigo deftly had her blouse zipped back up, and the small towel over her shoulder.

"What's that you're doing now?" Kushina asked.

"Burping her," Ichigo replied, matter-of-factly. "If I don't, she'll spit up all over me, and it'll upset her tummy."

"I... see," Kushina said, trying to hide the amusement she found in the fact that you were _supposed_ to make babies burp. Funny—ever since she was little, she was told_ not _to by her father, but she and her brother would do it anyways.

"I'll get that for you, if you want," Sazanka said, reaching for Kushina's empty ramen carton. "You want me to throw it away for you?"

"Yeah, sure," said Kushina, and handed it to her.

"Be right back," Sazanka said needlessly, and trotted off in search of a garbage can.

It left Ichigo, Sakura, and Kushina utterly alone on the bench together.

Sakura burped.

"Ah, there we are! What a good little girl," Ichigo cooed, and held the baby to her face, making several ridiculous expressions. Kushina laughed, which she noticed. "Oh, now that you're done, Kushina-san," she added, "would you like to hold Sakura, now?"

Kushina looked around, almost nervously. Well, Sazanka wasn't around to be an utter fool about it, so...

"Yeah. Sure, I guess I will," said Kushina.

"Sit a little closer; I'll put her in your arms," Ichigo said, smiling widely. Hesitantly, Kushina scooted to the side and closer. "Hold out your arms. Support her head a little, mind you!" said Ichigo, carefully putting the baby in Kushina's arms.

Sakura had bright, apple-green eyes; they had settled down and matured at a surprisingly early age, but they were ever so fetching on such a cute little round face...

Although she would never show it, Kushina was enjoying it thoroughly. Especially after Sakura nestled, ever so slightly, into the crook of her arm, tucking her tiny baby legs underneath her and yawning.

Kushina would never, ever show it. No matter how much she liked it.

But it was true that Princess Kushina, who liked babies and pretty things and pretty boys, who had been locked up in a dragon-guarded castle for all her life, had seen a glimpse of freedom.

Kushina gently stroked the pink fuzz high atop Sakura's head. "Pretty cute," she said. Sakura gurgled happily in response. "Mind if I hold her differently, or something?"

"I don't see why not," Ichigo said. "Just be sure to be a little careful."

Kushina nodded and, carefully supporting the baby's arms and head with her hands, lifted Sakura above her. "Yeah. Pretty cute," she admitted.

Princess Kushina was making a break for it. Freedom, could it be hers?

Unfortunately, it was then that Sakura decided to spit up on her.

No, the dragon had caught her, and shoved her back into the castle for another day of solitude. Drat.

"Oh, my god! I'm so sorry!" Ichigo said, quickly taking Sakura from Kushina's arms and feebly handing Kushina the blanket as a towel. "I thought she had been okay..."

Funnily enough, Kushina was laughing.

"You punk! Punkass baby! Spitting up on me!" she cackled. "Wow!"

"Kushina-san...?" Ichigo said.

"I tell you what, that kid's going to become one _hell_ of a kunoichi," Kushina said, wiping the thin spit-up off her jacket. "She's got balls to do something like that! It takes a lot to find a baby with balls! I like her already!"

"...Kushina-san, are you... okay?" Ichigo said again, bouncing Sakura a little to calm her down.

"Do I look like I'm okay?" Kushina snapped back, still grinning. "Man, and this shirt was dirty to begin with... You know what?" She unzipped the jacket and stood in a loose, dark blue t-shirt, and folded the soiled thing up. "I'll head home and get a new change of stuff on. Okay? Great meeting you, and stuff!"

"Sure," Ichigo said distractedly. "Really, are you okay? I'm so sorry-"

"It's nothing!!" Kushina said, slapping Ichigo slightly on the back. "I'll see you 'round. Uh, and tell Haruno where I went, will you?"

"You mean Sazanka?" said Ichigo, as Kushina picked up the shopping bags that Sazanka had left behind.

"Yeah, her," said Kushina. She began on her way. "See you 'round!"

And utterly perplexed, Ichigo waved good-bye in return.

-///-

Kushina decided then and there that she had a new favorite pastime, as she changed into one of the new outfits she and Sazanka had bought that day.

It was Minato-pestering.

She was in a fantastic mood from her encounter with Sakura, and she hadn't heard from the Hokage in a good while. So what better thing to do than to see what he was up to, and maybe get some laughs in?

He'd probably appreciate it, anyways, she thought to herself as she walked to the Hokage headquarters with confident strides.

"'scuze me, I'll be going in for a chat with the Hokage," she told the secretary when she got inside, opening the doors to his study without so much as a nod of recognition.

"W-wait, Uzumaki-san!" the secretary began. She knew Kushina through Minato, although she hadn't often interacted with the mother of the Hokage's son. "He's busy at the moment!"

But her warning was left ignored, as Kushina entered and looked around for Minato.

He was standing by the large, open window, his back to her. It was almost disgustingly winsome. "Hey, you," she said. "What's with this? Trying to look cool? Aren't you supposed to be working on things? That secretary of yours said you were 'busy,'"

He didn't respond. She frowned, and continued forward. "Taking breaks, are we? Some Hokage_ you_ are," she said, laughing a little. Still, he didn't respond.

Kushina was confused. Was he playing a trick on her, or something? Could it be that there was a dummy standing in his place? She came closer.

"...hey, what's going on?" she asked him.

She then noticed that Minato was crying.

Her eyebrows knit together in concern and curiosity. "Okay, seriously," she said, almost all thoughts of jesting leaving her. "What's the matter?"

"One of my students was killed," he replied, softly.


	9. Learning to Not Run Away

A/N: I really completely love you guys. Thank you ever so much for your reviews!

I'd like to take the opportunity, also, to thank all 9 C2's that have added this story. Thank you!

Some answers to questions posed in the previous chapter.  
- Unless I'm mistaken, the currency of the Narutoverse is the Ryuu (or Ryou, I cannot remember) which is roughly the equivalent of 1 Yen. So, that's what I'm going by.  
- It's never really said when Obito died, so I'm just going for the benefit of the vagueness and saying it happened around here. Hurray!

As usual, read, enjoy, and review if you enjoyed!

-///-

There were very few instances in her life where Kushina couldn't think of anything to say. She could probably count them all on the fingers of one hand.

One of then was when she was 7. Her father had come into her room one day to tell her that her brother, Katsuya, had run away from home. She was so silent with rage that she couldn't even bring herself to say goodbye to her father when he went out to get some groceries the next day.

He died later that day, and Kushina couldn't bring herself to say anything for a very long time.

Another was when she was 12. Finally, after three attempts, she found the means to earn a hitai'ate, and it took her everything to keep the hot, happy tears from rolling down her cheeks. Words were a worthy sacrifice for the occasion.

And now there was this day, when she found herself with a mourning Hokage on her hands.

Kushina didn't say anything for several seconds. With enormous force, she pushed the words to her tongue, and they slipped out and into the air like a stubborn child.

"Oh, um, who?"

Minato took a deep breath. He closed his eyes. Kushina began to get angry as the seconds passed; would he just tell her already?

"Obito."

Finally, an answer. "Oh. Um. Which one was he? The one in the mask?" Kushina said, though she was probably wrong. Didn't that masked kid have a name that began with a K?

"No. Obito, he... he wore goggles. Orange goggles," Minato replied. He took another deep breath.

"Oh, that one." He was one of the Uchiha, wasn't he? Kushina couldn't exactly remember; it had been at least a half a year since she had even seen him. "What happened?"

"They were... I put Kakashi in charge, I... there was an ambush, I thought... they could handle it, I thought they could," Minato said, stopping himself every few words, as if regretting every syllable. "Obito was... he was crushed beneath a boulder by a Rock nin."

Kushina winced slightly. She could think of worse ways to die: Drowning, for instance, would have been the worst. Or perhaps to be dissected alive, like some people said Orochimaru did to his victims, although that was dubious.

Still, it was a pretty awful way to go. "That's... well, awful," Kushina said, biting her tongue before she could add a somewhat callous "I guess" to the end.

Minato nodded slightly. There was a very, very uncomfortable silence.

Kushina knew she had to say something when about a minute went by, without so much as a sniffle from Minato. She _wanted_ to say something. The only problem lay in what, exactly, to say.

She opted for the somewhat obvious. "Well, are you... okay?" she said.

Minato shrugged. "I guess I am," he said. "I've just been... rather drained by it all, I guess. I honestly thought they were ready, what with Kakashi becoming a jounin..."

So the little masked smartass had become a jounin. It astonished Kushina; Arare hadn't become one until he was 17. Kakashi and the rest of the students couldn't have been more than 13, 14 years old...

The words shot from her mouth faster than a thrown kunai. "What the hell are you doing here, moping around like this?!"

Minato finally looked at her, blinking with his glass-blue eyes. "What?"

"You're the worst, you know that?!" she yelled, clenching her fists as she did so. "You're sitting here, wallowing in guilt and whatever, when you've got two other students that are still alive! And what are they doing, wallowing in guilt, too? Yeah! You know what, I bet they are!"

Minato continued to stare at her, almost like a cornered animal. Kushina went on. "They're just _kids_, you know that? Even if one of them is a jounin! And sure, they could have been capable of doing a mission or whatever..."

Kushina's stomach tied itself into a knot when she realized that these kids were out on the front lines of the war in Rock. Children, barely even teenagers. It almost made her feel sick, but she gulped and continued. "But you know what? They're still only kids! When a person dies, it hurts kids a lot more than you think! And this kid was, like, their teammate! You expect them to deal with this on their own?!"

Kushina stood, breathing heavily, Minato staying silent. She imagined, for a moment, how she might have reacted if Arare or Hyou had died when they were still genin, chuunin—Sazanka hadn't been added to their team until later, so she was absent from Kushina's thoughts.

The most honest conclusion was that, if that had happened, Kushina would probably have one more instance where she couldn't bring herself to say anything.

Her voice became suddenly somewhat soft. "I mean, people die," she said. "Everyone dies, eventually. But to a kid, if it's someone really close to you, no matter how much you hate them... it hurts! It hurts a lot! Like, way more than when you're an adult."

It hurt when her father had died. It hurt even more when Katsuya had run away. It would have hurt if Hyou or Arare had died. She glared at the floor. "My old man died when I was 7, did you know that? When the Mist went and sent all their freaks out into the city and killed anyone who so much as looked at 'em wrong. I was so freaked out, I couldn't even cry." She raised her head. "It was goddamn awful. So here's where I have this problem with you!"

She began to step forward, and Minato, uncontrollably, backed himself up into the wall. Her voice had lost its softness, and she was yelling at him again.

"I had to start talking eventually! I had to get past the whole deal with my dad. It took me forever, because I had nobody to goddamn talk to. And that's what you need to do! Sure, Obito's dead, but you've got two other students that are alive and probably feeling like absolute shit right now! And what are you doing?" She pointed at him. "You're just sitting back here like a lump and not doing a goddamn thing! Shit! You know what, if you're being this insensitive to your own students, you're going to be one hell of a fucking fantastic father, aren't you?"

She laughed, harshly, her voice pure sarcasm. "Sure, I can't wait to have my son raised by a guy who won't even be there to talk to him when he needs it! It'll be so. Damn. Wonderful, won't it? I'm almost proud to have a son raised like that."

All he did was blink. She was so close to him that she could see the very line of tears that had trailed down his cheeks, and followed them upwards to his eyes. The sky-blue irises looked almost unclean from the tears and redness surrounding them.

Kushina then wished, dearly, that she had run out of things to say a long time before.

Minato covered his eyes with his hand and began to openly cry.

He sat, almost as if all the strength had been taken from him, on the window ledge, for a very good long while, Kushina feeling immensely guilty. She didn't mean to make him cry!

Finally, the silence was broken.

"You're right," he managed to say, after using his sleeve to clear his eyes and taking a rather loud sniff.

"I'm... what?" Kushina said.

"You're right. You're absolutely right," Minato replied, and looked out the window. He was no longer crying, though sniffing just a little and sounding positively drained. "I really shouldn't be here. I'm... expecting too much of them."

"...you said that already. It's not-" Kushina began, but found herself interrupted by a particularly pathetic smile to her on Minato's behalf.

"Stop trying to apologize; it's okay," he said. "I really am that much of an idiot. It's a wonder I ever became Hokage..."

All Kushina could do was blink. He was... agreeing with her?!

"I really thought that it was best for me to... you know, hide it from them," he continued, looking out the window again at the pristine sky. "Shinobi Rule Number 25, after all. 'Never Show Emotion.' And Kakashi's so..." He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence, leaving Kushina immensely confused.

He looked up, and was wiping tears away from his sleeve again. "Here I am, crying like some sort of coward, back at home. I am _such_ an idiot."

"...well, that _is_ true, but don't go beating yourself up for it so much..." Kushina said, scowling. She was so used to seeing Minato's bubbly, happy side that this strange grief was making her positively uncomfortable.

He gave a laugh. A small laugh, but a laugh nonetheless. "Kushina-san, if I were beating myself up, I'd jump out this window right now," he said, and leaned over a little to illustrate his point.

"Asshole, don't do that!!" Kushina said, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him firmly away. He fell to the floor, laughing. "Goddammit! Now you're being inconsiderate to _me, _you prick."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he said. He was smiling now. "I didn't mean to do that."

"Damn right you didn't!" Kushina replied. "Now get up off that floor. I'm warning you! And don't you dare start crying again."

He stopped laughing and sighed, but still smiled. "Well, I guess I really have some shaping up to do," he said. "I can't just run away from my students like some... pussy, huh?"

Kushina made a very strange face. "...don't say that word. Ever. Again," she said.

"Point taken," Minato said, managing a weak smile. "I'm sorry."

"Jeesh. You just can't stop apologizing, can you?" Kushina said, crossing her arms. "Grow some balls. There are babies around here with more balls than you."

"I'll keep that in mind," Minato said, and kissed her on the forehead.

Today was to be a day where Kushina would be without words for several occasions, it seemed.

"The hell did you do that for?!" she finally said.

"It's a thank you," he replied. "I really needed someone to just go right up to me and tell me I was being an idiot. Don't tell me I wasn't."

"I wasn't going to," Kushina replied.

Minato smiled. "I know. I should have known it would be you that would help me out like this."

Kushina rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well... yeah." He smiled, closing his eyes, which were already beginning to return to their normal sharpness. "You're welcome."

"I'll have a lot of shaping up to do," he said again, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Since I'm obviously not going to be a very competent father as I am now."

Kushina turned red. "Yeah, about that..." she said. "Well, just so you know... I didn't really mean that. I got kinda angry. You're... not gonna be that bad. You're gonna be a—stop laughing, will you?! Cripes!"

She quickly whipped away his hand from her shoulder, and hit his shoulder with her hand, which stopped his laughs just a little. "I'm trying to be sincere, and here you go off and laugh at me," she said.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he replied.

"No more apologizing to me, pal," Kushina said sternly. She put her hands on her hips. "Go apologize to your students, already. They're the ones who need talking to."

He nodded, he smiled. "You're right," he said. He stepped on the window ledge. "Thanks again, Kushina-san. You really were the one I needed to see today."

Before she could say another word, he was gone.

Alone in his office, Kushina could have done a lot of things. She could have gone through his things for blackmail on him and various others. She could have gone and harassed his secretary. She could have found his room and his clothes, and buried her face in them.

But instead, her son kicked her from the inside, and she got unexpectedly reminded of a certain someone she had met at the Mommy Class.

"Oh, shit," she said to herself. "Obito was Mikoto's son, wasn't he?"

Not wanting to be a hypocrite, Kushina quickly ducked outside of the room and asked the secretary where the Uchiha compound was, because if anyone was going to need consolation, it would be Mikoto.

Even if Obito really wasn't her son. But Kushina didn't exactly know that.


	10. Friendship Through Misunderstanding

A/N: Sorry for the lack of update last week! I've finally gotten to the point where I've run out of chapters I've written in advance, so now I'm just posting as I finish them. Hence, a Thanksgiving update for those of you who celebrate it

Some notes here:  
- Sasuke Sarutobi is, from what I've read, a popular folktale icon. Momotaro is also another popular folktale about a boy born out of a peach, who goes on to have adventures with a monkey, dog, and pheasant.  
- To hold up your pinkie is to refer to a girlfriend. Likewise, a thumb is for a boyfriend. Apparently, Kushina doesn't know this.

Anyways, read, enjoy, and review if you enjoyed. See you next time!

-///-

Kushina arrived at the the Uchiha compound expecting black clothing and mourning women, sobbing into handkerchiefs and maybe even fainting on occasion.

Boy, was she ever wrong.

Rather, the place was a portrait of unabashed apathy, with not a teary eye in sight. Kushina was perplexed, but only for a very short while—she was dealing with Uchiha, after all.

At least, in their apathy, they were helpful. Kushina simply asked a random passerby where Mikoto Uchiha lived, and she was given rather detailed instructions as to where her house was, down to the cherry tree that grew nearby.

Vaguely hesitant, Kushina stood outside the entrance for only a short while, before a young passerby noticed her there and asked what she needed.

"Uh, Mikoto Uchiha lives here, right?" Kushina replied, and the young man nodded. "Where could I meet her?"

"Oh, just step inside and ask for her," the boy replied, with a smile. "Chances are that her son will be there, if she doesn't show."

Kushina's stomach sank at the word "son"—she did have another boy, a young one, didn't she? He had shown up at one of the classes; a cold, sullen little kid. Kushina couldn't quite remember his name.

"Ma'am, are you okay?" the boy said. "You look pale."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Kushina said quickly. "Thanks."

With a nod, the anonymous boy left, and Kushina gulped as she approached the door. She knocked.

For a while, there was no answer. Then: "Coming, coming!"

Mikoto arrived at the door, looking very frustrated, and brushing her hair out of her eyes. "Oh, Kushina-san!" she said, panting a little. "What a surprise, what brings you here?"

"I, er, was... thinking of you," Kushina replied. "Y'know, just, uh... wondering if you were okay. Um... wanna talk?"

Mikoto gave a small, yet grateful, smile. "Oh, of course. Please, come in. I was just finishing lunch."

Kushina stepped inside and exchanged her shoes for slippers, and followed Mikoto into the kitchen. The cold-eyed son sat at the table, angrily eying a delicious, if not cold-looking, spear of dumplings.

"Oh, Itachi, you haven't even touched your dango..." Mikoto said worriedly, holding her elbows as she looked over him. "They're your favorite..."

The boy, whose name was Itachi, didn't change his dour expression. "I'm not hungry," he said.

"I'll just put these away for you, then," Mikoto said, taking the plate from him and placing it by the sink. "If you want them later, they'll be in the kitchen."

"Okay," Itachi said, and left without so much as another word.

Mikoto sighed a deep, mournful sigh. "Oh, what am I going to do?" she said. "Itachi's been hurt so much by this." She gave Kushina a sad smile. "Did you know that Obito-kun was babysitting him the entire day before he… before he—oh, I'm sorry, would you like some tea? Do sit."

She quickly put on what was obviously a well-practiced smile, and Kushina very well may have fallen for it.

However, she had known Arare and his sad, defeated smiles since she was 8, so masks of that sort were all too familiar to her.

Still, she didn't want to hurt Mikoto's feelings. She was there to console her, after all. "Sure," she said, and sat down at the table.

"Obito-kun and Itachi were so close, you know," Mikoto said, fetching some cups and the teapot off the stove. "He's really taking it hard. And what with the new baby coming, I… just don't really know how he'll take it."

"Itachi, right?" Kushina said, and Mikoto nodded. "Well, um… little kids are tough. He'll be down for a bit, but I'm sure he'll be fine." Mikoto sat down and placed two cups of tea on the table. "Ah, thanks."

"Of course. Itachi… well, he certainly _is _a very strong child, like his father," Mikoto said. "He'll put on a brave face for all of this, or at least an angry one, but I know he's hurting very badly. And all of this so close to his birthday?"

"Oh, it's his birthday soon?" Kushina said, and Mikoto nodded. "Ah, poor kid."

"He turns five next week," Mikoto said, and there was a very uncomfortable silence for a while.

Kushina held her tea and tried to keep from fidgeting as she thought of what to say next. She started drinking it, eventually, and was halfway through her cup before she figured out what would probably be the smartest choice.

"Well… I don't think you should have to worry about Itachi's new little brother. Er, sister?" Kushina said, not exactly remembering what, exactly, Mikoto was expecting.

"Brother," Mikoto said gently.

"Little brother, right," Kushina continued. "I mean… he'll still remember Obito, but he'll love his new brother just as much as he loved Obito. It hurts to lose a brother. I know."

And she really did.

However, Mikoto blinked. "…lose a… brother?"

"Well… yeah. I mean," Kushina said, confusedly, "wasn't Obito Itachi's older brother?"

"…no. Obito-kun was my nephew."

Kushina felt like an immense ass, her face growing hotter than her tea.

"…oh, god. I am _so_ sorry," she said, standing and quickly attempting to leave. "I am _so_ stupid, this was a huge misunderstanding. I feel so _stupid...!_"

Mikoto grabbed her by the arm, and she stopped. "Kushina-san, please. Don't go," she said.

Kushina stayed.

"Really, it's all right," Mikoto continued. "Obito-kun was almost… like a big brother to Itachi, and his death hit us all hard. Myself included. So… thank you for coming to see me. It guess it's what I need right now: someone to talk with."

Kushina was sickeningly reminded of just how much Mikoto reminded her of Minato, and she managed a dry smile. "Yeah, well… least I could do, y'know?"

Mikoto smiled back, and ushered towards the table. "Care to finish your tea over a chat, then?"

Kushina nodded. "Sure," she said, and sat. "So, um… should we talk about Obito or something?"

"Oh, only if you want to," Mikoto replied. She waved her hand. "It's comforting just talking about anything, really."

"Huh," Kushina said. Uchiha sure grieved oddly, she decided. "Okay. Um. So, how's that baby of yours doing?"

"Baby? Oh, well, he's doing just fine," Mikoto replied warmly, patting her stomach. "I'm a bit worried for him, what with this recent business... oh, but I know I shouldn't. I should be more worried about what I'll name him!"

"'zzat so?" Kushina said. "Uh, got any in mind?"

Mikoto nodded. "Oh, yes. I've got just the perfect one. It's so funny how it happened. I was so indecisive for the past couple of months, and Fugaku said that we should use the name of his great-grandfather, Tenya, you know, and I just... well, I was unsure."

She said this all rather fast, and Kushina nodded as she kept up. Mikoto put her finger on her chin. "Then, one night, I just woke up and pow!"

In an uncharacteristic motion, she punched her fist into her open palm. Kushina found this rather funny. "I just knew what the perfect name would be! What's so funny?"

"Nothing, nothing," Kushina said, holding back a snort. "What name is it?"

"Sasuke," Mikoto replied. This made Kushina laugh even harder. "What is it now, Kushina-san? Something about the name?"

"Yeah," Kushina said, managing to suppress her chuckles. "I mean... Sasuke? As in, Great Shinobi Sasuke?" She began a fresh bout of laughter after Mikoto nodded.

Kushina remembered being read the stories of the Great Shinobi Sasuke Sarutobi as a kid, and hearing the name now, especially in conjunction with an Uchiha, was downright hilarious. "Might as well name him Momotaro while you're at it, Uchiha."

"Oh, but that's what I find so cute about it!" Mikoto said sunnily. "Everyone would recognize it."

"Somehow, I think that's not the sort of recognition you're looking for," Kushina snorted, her grin wide. "Well, sure. Whatever works for you. Sasuke Uchiha, good god..."

"Well, how about you, Kushina-san? Got any names picked out?" Mikoto asked.

Kushina was silent for a bit, a few good kicks occurring before she replied with a, "No, not really."

"Well, that's just fine," Mikoto said, nodding. "You have about... what, 3 months before you have to decide, right?"

"Eh," Kushina replied, her laughs and smile completely gone by now. "I'm in my right mind to just let Namikaze name him."

"That sounds nice, allowing Hokage-sama to name his son," Mikoto said. "Still, don't be surprised if a name you like just... pops out at you!"

"Pff, like that'll ever happen," Kushina said.

"You'd be surprised," Mikoto replied. "More tea?"

Kushina had indeed finished her cup. "Sure, thanks."

Mikoto poured. "Now, I know you'll be having his father raise him; you've told me that much," she said. "But you'll be planning on having your son enter the ninja academy, right?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I?" Kushina said, almost explosively.

Mikoto laughed a little and poured herself some more tea. "I thought as much," she said. "If that's the case, then, our sons will be classmates."

Kushina blinked, realizing this was true. "Ah, really? Interesting."

"Indeed," Mikoto smiled. "It's kind of strange to imagine, it all seems so far off." She took a sip of her tea, and looked at its surface for a brief while, pensively. Then, she said, "Do you think that, perhaps... they could be friends?"

"Who could be friends?" Kushina said, disoriented by the pauses.

"Oh, my son and your son," Mikoto replied, looking almost embarrassed. "When they're older, you know."

"Oh. Right. Um. Maybe?" Kushina said, shrugging. "I dunno, really. I'm not a fortune teller or anything."

"I see," Mikoto said.

"And anyways, it all depends on how much of a pansy that son of yours will turn out to be," Kushina continued, oddly feeling no restraint in her speech. "I'm not letting any son of mine near nay wimps." Mikoto began to laugh. "What's so funny?"

"I thought you weren't going to raise your son at all, Kushina-san," Mikoto replied.

Kushina paused, her brow furrowed, not even considering that Mikoto wasn't offended by calling her baby a pansy. She was right, but...

"Well, yeah... but you bet your ass I'm going to have him raised right!" Kushina put her hand on her stomach and felt her son give a kick of approval beneath. "I don't trust Namikaze in raising a tough kid at all. I want all my hard work to be worth it! Yeah."

Mikoto continued to blithely smile and nod. "I see! That's understandable. I'm sure he'll grow up well."

"Damn right he will!" Kushina said, for good measure, and leaned back in her chair.

There was a silence, albeit not an entirely uncomfortable one.

"I can only hope," Mikoto said, after drinking some more tea, "that my little Sasuke can grow up well and be a fine ninja, like his father. Itachi's well on his way, from what I've seen and heard. You should have seen him just a few days ago! He and Obi-"

Unexpectedly, she paused, her almost girlish enthusiasm over her son noticeably fading.

"...he and who?" Kushina said, leaning forward a little.

"Oh, he and Obito-kun," Mikoto replied, her voice much softer. "They went out and were practicing throwing kunai together at a tree. And it's so funny, Obito-kun said that Itachi had the better aim! It's... rather amazing, isn't it?"

Kushina shrugged, not wanting to look at Mikoto's sad smile. Yeah, well, I dunno," she said, wiping her nose. "I always get kinda suspicious of stuff like that."

"Like... that?" Mikoto said.

Kushina looked at her, and was thankful that the sad expression on Mikoto's face had left and had been replaced with a look of vaguely surprised curiosity.

"Yeah, like genius kids and prodigies and things like that," she continued. "I mean, natural talent's nice and all, but I say you gotta work your ass off to get anywhere, regardless of how good you are. I hate when all these smartass kids just get stuff handed to them cos they're clever!"

"...I see," Mikoto said thoughtfully, poising her fingers at her lip. "That's rather interesting, actually."

"Interesting, huh?" said Kushina. "How so?"

"Well, most people just accepted their gifts as a means of getting further faster," she explained. "You can be gifted _and_ still put plenty of effort into your studies."

This got Kushina rather flustered. Mikoto was right, yet again, but... "Yeah, well... it's complicated! I mean, I can respect a person that spent all their life learning tons and tons of jutsu more than some punkass kid that can learn it all in a second-"

It was then that Kushina remembered she was talking to an Uchiha. Uchiha, who had sharingan, which were able to copy any sort of jutsu or movement at a moment's observation.

She made a very strange face indeed.

" ...oh. Um. Well. I didn't really mean _you,_ or Itachi or anyone... like that..." she said, and stared at her tea.

Mikoto just smiled. "It's all right," she said.

"Do you even use your sharingan, anyways?" Kushina asked, before she could stop herself. "I mean, you're, like, a housewife."

Mikoto's eyes closed for a good while, and Kushina leaned forward in anticipation. Minutes seemed to pass. "...well, can you?"

Mikoto opened her eyes.

The irises were the warm red of blood, but unbecomingly cold, like rubies.

Uncontrollably, a shiver ran up Kushina's spine.

Kekkei genkai still tended to give her the creeps. She had gotten used to the Hyuuga and their byakugan fairly quickly, with the milky, cataract-like eyes. They unnerved her a lot, as a kid, but then Kushina would think of her blind, cackling grandmother, her hair a rusty ghost of the vivid Uzumaki red, and it made the unnatural whiteness a little easier to stomach.

However, the sharingan still gave her the heebie jeebies. It wasn't so much the redness, but the coldness that got to her. It reminded her, horribly, of the ice-cold, black eyes of the freaks who had killed her father, he cousin, her cackling grandmother, with those terrible, cold...

"Kushina-san, are you okay?" Mikoto said, her eyes no longer red and cold. "You've gone pale all of a sudden."

Putting the memory behind her, Kushina hurriedly said, "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just, uh, don't... don't do that again." She gave a tough sort of glare, her version of the smile mask that Mikoto had presented her earlier. "Y'got that? Jeeze, just because I _ask _if you can do it doesn't mean you_ have_ to..."

Mikoto gave her a brief, worried expression, before closing her eyes and nodding. "Of course," she said. She smiled in a way which Kushina couldn't quite interpret as having seen beyond her mask or not.

Either way, it was time for a change of subject.

"How long have you been able to do that, anyways?" Kushina said, looking still vaguely angry, yet interested. "Like, can little kids do it?" So far as she knew, Hyuuga had strange eyes from birth, so was it the same with the Uchiha?

"No, not really," Mikoto replied. "It takes time. Even the most talented can't use the sharingan until they're old enough for the ninja academy, at least."

"Oh. Weird," Kushina said. "How long'd it take you?"

" Oh, me?" said Mikoto. Kushina nodded. "I didn't master it until I was maybe... 13? 14? It seemed to take _forever_." A warm, genuine smile filled her face as she spoke, though Kushina didn't really find it all that comforting.

"Uh-huh," she said. "So, uh, did you still have to study that hard, after you learned it?"

"Absolutely. Maybe even harder," Mikoto said. "It was really sort of overwhelming, but it let up a bit after I became a jounin."

"Wait—you're a jounin?!" Kushina said, absolutely shocked.

"_Was_ a jounin," Mikoto replied pleasantly.

It didn't take long for Kushina to calm down, but her surprise remained. "Well, I never would have guessed. Did you, like, quit though?" she said.

Mikoto nodded. "Yes, it must have been around... I think I was about 23, 24 years old," she said, her finger on her chin as she thought. "I was engaged to Fugaku when I was about 20; we got married, I had Itachi... I just haven't gone back."

Kushina gulped a little, as her son kicked her again. "Do you... miss it, though?"

"Certainly," Mikoto said, and looked to the side, almost winsomely. "But... well, I guess I really just love this life more."

"Hmph. Well, I sure wouldn't," Kushina said, almost pridefully.

"I don't really expect you would," Mikoto replied, addressing her again.

Somewhat taken aback by this, Kushina just blinked and said nothing more.

A silence had fallen, and it was an uncomfortable one.

"Um. Well. It was, um, really nice to talk to you," Kushina said, getting up to Mikoto's surprise. "I'd better get going."

"Of course, I've made you stay far too long. Do forgive me," Mikoto said, smiling pleasantly.

"It's okay, it was... pretty fun, I guess," Kushina said, and smiled. "Tell me when you have that baby of yours. Sasuke, right?"

Mikoto nodded. "Yes, Sasuke!"

Kushina was in the foyer by then, and getting her shoes on, dipping her toes into the heels and not bothering to bend over and slip her ankles into them. "Cool. Well, um... see you later, then!"

"Goodbye," Mikoto said, waving. "Thanks for stopping by."

_Such a nice girl,_ thought Mikoto.

And feeling just the slightest bit better, Kushina left.

Though her spirits very quickly sank when she caught a glimpse of Minato outside of the Uchiha compound.

She flattened herself against the wall, so as not to be seen, and very carefully peeked over her shoulder once she felt the coast was clear.

Minato was gently speaking to his two students, knelt to eye-level with them. Though she couldn't hear what they were saying, or see the student's faces, she could tell that the girl was crying, and it almost made her feel sick... but then again, he was apologizing to them?

Had he listened to her?

"Kushina-san, what are you doing here?"

A surprisingly familiar voice caused Kushina to jump nearly a foot into the air, and it took her everything to keep herself from squealing.

It was Arare. "Kagayaki! What the hell are _you_ doing here?!" she replied.

"I, er, I was just, um... taking a stroll..?" Arare said, nervously scratching the back of his head. Kushina glared at him.

"Don't kid me, Kagayaki. What're you doing by the Uchiha compound?" she said. There was a weird smell in the air. "In civilian clothes, too! Wait... is that... cologne?!"

"I-I-I c-could ask the same of you, Kushina-san," Arare said, gulping.

"Answer my questions first, dammit!" Kushina said, though trying not to be heard by Minato, who was just around the corner.

"Well, um... I was, er... you see..."Arare said, before shyly holding up one of his pinkies, as if it were a sign of defeat.

Kushina wasn't amused. "Don't go pointing your pinkies at me, Kagayaki."

"But, um... Kushina-sa-an..." he said, almost whining. "I don't want to say it..."

"Say what?" said Kushina. "Out with it already."

Arare sighed, and smiled just a little. "...all right, I guess I could tell you. I have a... a... Ihaveagirlfriendhere," he said after a while.

"...a what?"

"...a girlfriend."

"...you shittin' me?" Arare shook his head. "Come on, you've got to be lying."

"I'm not!" Arare said, looking vaguely embarrassed. "Her name's Natsume, and she's the nicest woman in the world!"

"Rea-ally," Kushina said, not believing a word.

"Listen, if you don't believe me, go ask her yourself. Only, uh, don't," Arare said, scratching the back of his head again. "It's kind of, uh, a secret. It kinda is."

Kushina laughed. "A secret romance? Pff. Man, just get out of my face already," she said, and slapped Arare on the back. "Go on to your 'girlfriend' or whatever."

"All right, Kushina-san," Arare said, laughing a little (relieved?) and began heading towards the gate. "Oh, and you didn't answer my question! What brings _you_ here, anyways?"

"Shut it, I'm not telling!" Kushina said, and went home as Minato hugged his two living students, assuring them that everything was going to be okay.


	11. Mental Warfare and Unnecessary Niceness

A/N: Once again, I update. Hello!

A short update: I've changed Kushina's age from 19 to 23, and gone back and edited an age reference in an earlier chapter. Established canon made me change my mind. xD

There aren't any notes to mention here, so as usual, read and review, if you enjoyed it!  
Poor Rin, we'll never learn your name at this rate...

-///-

It was two days later that there was a knock on Kushina's door.

She had been unusually subdued that day, and for the days since her encounter with Mikoto. The better half of her afternoons had been spent just sitting around after her basic morning exercises (prescribed by Dr. Himawari), even daring to pick up Dr. Takei's baby book at the library the afternoon previous, and neutrally flipping through its pages.

She was (with a remarkably calm stomach) reading about breastfeeding techniques, with matching illustrations, when the knock was heard.

"Yeah, who is it?" she said, not bothering to look up.

"Um... does Kushina Uzumaki-san live here?" a young, unfamiliar, female voice said, from behind the door. It was then that Kushina looked up. Where had she heard that voice before...?

"Yeah? Who is it?" she said, getting up and allowing the book to rest, open and face-down on the couch, as she opened the door.

A young girl, maybe 12, 13 years old, stood behind. Her hair was plum-colored, and her smile was shy. It took Kushina a shot while to recognize her.

"Ah, wait—you're one of Namikaze's students, right?" she said, before the girl could reply. The girl eagerly nodded. "Um. What do you want?"

"Um... ah... I want to thank you," the girl replied. Kushina had to fight hard to keep from rolling her eyes, before slightly choking on her spit.

"Oh... thank me for _what?_" she said.

The girl, whose name Kushina _still_ didn't know, rolled her eyes also. "For talking to sensei. Really, Kakashi-kun and I are very grateful."

"Er, grateful," said Kushina. The girl nodded. "...wa-ait, what are you thinking I did?"

"I told you, for talking to-" she began.

"No! I mean... did he _tell _you that I told him to grow some balls and apologize?" she said, tilting her head. The girl, with a small laugh nodded. "...what in the... You're, um... welcome? I guess?"

The girl giggled. "Sure. Heehee, you're a lot like how he says you are," she said.

" Um... _who?_"

"Namikaze-sensei," the girl replied. "He talks about you all the time."

" Wh-what?!" Kushina said, and developed a very suddenly razor-sharp glare, directed at the girl. "_What sorts of things does he say?!_"

The girl looked positively terrified, backing slightly out the door—her sensei had said that Kushina was a somewhat violent woman, but like this...?! She gulped, and said, "Nothingbadhejusttalksabouthowfunnyyouactandhowyougetsoannoyedsometimesandnowhethinksit'sjustsocute!"

She said this all rather fast, and ended with a squeak.

"He thinks I act funny, huh?" Kushina said immediately, before suddenly noticing—"He thinks it's... cute?!"

"Well... yes," the girl replied. Kushina thought on this for a moment.

" ...how in the_hell...?_" she decided, and peered at the girl again. The girl, in return, winced. "You sure he's not just making fun of me or whatever?"

" No, no! Of course he wouldn't!" the girl said, and crossed her arms. "Come on, you think I couldn't tell the difference? He can't stop smiling whenever he mentions you! Is that making fun of you? I don't think so!"

"Uh, right," Kushina replied, skeptically. He smiled when he talked about her...? She thought he smiled just about_all _the time...

Sensing that the air was a little safer, the girl smiled. "Well, um... Uzumaki-san," she said, "anyways, you know what I really think would make sensei happy?"

"What, hooker or something?" Kushina said. All guys liked hookers, didn't they? Hyou certainly did; so maybe Minato did too. Though something in the back of her mind made her wonder if was the correct assumption to make.

The girl made a rather disgusted face; _this_ was the woman her sensei was in _love_ with? She could hardly believe her ears. "No, not... that," she said. "What I really think... would be good, would be a date."

"A date."

"Yes, a date."

"With a hooker?"

The girl covered half her face in her hand, very embarrassed for both herself and her sensei. "No, no, with _you._"

Kushina blinked. "...uh, what?"

"I just really think it would be nice if you went on a date with Namikaze-sensei, Uzumaki-san," the girl continued, patiently folding her hands behind her back. "He'd really enjoy it, I think!"

"Uh, no. Nonono. No. Not like this," she said, pointing to her stomach and scowling. "Are you kidding me? Absolutely not."

The girl pouted. "Are you sure? Really, I think you'd enjoy it too..."

" Hey, shut up. I don't wanna go on any dates," Kushina snapped back. She peered suspiciously at the girl once more. "Why do _you_ care, anyways?"

Scowling determinedly, the girl said, "Because he's _my_ sensei, and I care for him too."

Feeling immensely smug, Kushina folded her arms and smirked. "Sure. Go home, little girl, and tell that _asshole_ of a sensei of yours to stop sending dating proposals through his students!"

"What? No! That's not it!" the girl said, looking very distressed indeed as Kushina continued to stare her down. "He didn't send me to say anything! I came on my own." Seeing that she was getting no change in facial expression, she pouted. "Besides," she added, "he'd send Kakashi-kun for things like that..."

Truth be told, if Minato ever felt like it, he'd certainly send Kakashi for dating proposals. The kid was remarkably good at saying anything directly, and with a straight face: "You. The Hokage. Dinner. At 7. Be there."

Not that he had ever done it before, but that's what he would have done, should the want arise.

"Outta my doorway, kid," Kushina said gruffly, pushing the girl outside. "And don't forget to tell your _sensei _to stop bothering me!"

"Fine, if you sa-ay so!" the girl replied, and the door closed.

Kushina still hadn't learned her name.

-///-

Two days later, Kushina barged her way into Minato's office.

"ALL RIGHT. YOU WIN. I'LL GO ON A DATE WITH YOU, YOU ASSHOLE."

Minato blinked. "Come again?"

"A date. You wanted me to go on one with you. So, here I am. Let's go. Whenever you want," Kushina said, crossing her arms in sour defeat.

"A date? All right, I guess," Minato said, with a pleasant smile.

Kushina was not amused. "What do you mean, _I guess_?!" she said, stomping to his desk and slamming down her hands. "You had me thinking about you, like, all weekend! And I don't like doing that! Especially now that... WELL, I'M NOT FEELING MYSELF RIGHT NOW AND IT'S TOTALLY NOT WHAT I NEED, OKAY? YOU ASSHOLE."

One of Kushina's greatest flaws was that she was horrible at explaining herself―not that she noticed or minded, but it caused a great deal of confusion when she wanted to get her point across the most.

Two days earlier, when Minato's female student had left, Kushina had sat back down on her couch, closed the book, and stewed.

All weekend.

Much to her utter horror, she couldn't stop thinking about what sorts of evil and indirect ways that smiling idiot was going to try and seduce her―and he was starting out by using his students, of all things? A truly insidious man.

Yet, for all that she thought on the subject, she couldn't help but feel that she really kinda did want to go on a date. After all, it might cheer him up some (it hadn't even been a week since Obito had died), and...

Well, embarrassed as she was to admit it, a little bit of fondling would have been nice. Very nice, in fact, though she doubted she would be getting anything, especially considering her current state.

And so, the hours passed into a weekend, and by the end of it, Minato's unintentional mental warfare had decimated Kushina's mind and sent her grumbling to his office later that afternoon, which was where she currently found herself.

Minato, by now feeling immensely better and his smiling self again, laughed a little. "Is that so? Well, all right. I don't think I'm busy on Wednesday, so... why don't you come over to my house for dinner? Would that be all right?"

Kushina glared. "...why the _hell_ do you have to be so damn _nice?!_" she said.

"Wednesday or not?" he replied, with a coy smirk.

"Shut up. I'll be there at 8," she said, and left.

-///-

Kushina was surprised at how neat Hokage Manor was. She suspected Minato hired maids, but as there were none in sight, (and has he had greeted her in oven mitts and an apron, from out of the kitchen) she had to conclude that he did all the cleaning himself.

And the candles on the table. And the nice-smelling flowers. And the really, really good cooking.

_This man clearly isn't human,_ Kushina thought as she swallowed a small cutlet of teriyaki pork he had prepared. _He's more of a woman than Mikoto is, at any rate._

"Is it any good?" he asked.

"Mmfhm," she replied, not minding in the least that her mouth was full of pork and rice.

"Wonderful," he replied, and took a bite himself. "My aunt taught me this recipe, you know, so I really hope I'm doing it justice."

Kushina gulped. "Aunt, huh?" she said. She could remember several aunts, but all only on her mother's side. "Mom's sister or dad's sister?"

"My father's sister," he replied. "My parents died when I was a baby; on-mission, I think. Either way, my aunt was a civilian, so she took care of me."

"Nice of her," Kushina said, not exactly knowing if there was much better she could say.

Minato smiled, and ate some more pork. "Wonderful woman," he continued. "She died of a blood disease only a few years ago―Tsunade-sama did all she could, but... well, she died in peace, and she wasn't in pain, rest her soul. I could say she lives on in her cooking, too!" He laughed a laugh that was almost too sunny for the subject matter, and yet Kushina was not surprised at all.

"Hehe, I guess relatives can live on in the weirdest things," she replied, managing a chuckle.

"Why do you say that?" Minato said, tilting his head just slightly, and Kushina grimaced a little. She was kind of hoping he wouldn't ask that...

"Oh, uh, er... nevermind," she replied, and quickly shoved some pork in her mouth so she wouldn't have to answer anytime soon. Minato laughed.

" It's all right," he said. "I thought that you had a relative with something similar."

Kushina attempted to say something, but found her mouth was full of pork, so she hastily swallowed, took a good chug of water, because she hadn't chewed all that well and was coughing, and said, "Well, I have relatives. Er, had. Uh. And, uh, I'll remember them from the strangest things. But none of 'em cooked, I guess. Maybe my grandma."

"Your grandmother, huh?" Minato said, holding his water glass and looking intensely interested. "What was she like?"

"Well, she kinda raised me, along with my dad," Kushina said, looking upward as memories, one-by-one, played in her mind like slides on a projector. "She cooked the spiciest shit, I tell you what, but I just loved it. I'd eat it every day."

"I see," Minato said, and gave her a glance of utmost empathy. "Did your mother...?"

"Die? Yeah. I was, like, 3 or something. I think it was on a mission," Kushina replied, shrugging, but her eyes sad. "I don't even remember her."

"I see," Minato said again. Kushina glanced at him suspiciously.

"'zzat all you can say?" she said.

He laughed. "I'm afraid it's not," he said. "How about your father? Does he live here?"

"Him? Naw," Kushina said. "He's... he's dead too."

"Oh," Minato said. He played at a piece of pork with his chopsticks. "Did it happen in the-"

"Yeah, yeah," Kushina said quickly, not wanting very much to cover the subject of her father's death. "It happened then. A long time ago."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Minato said, nodding. "I didn't mean to bring it up."

She said nothing more, but in thought, she was saying a million things.

Why wasn't she yelling at him more? He was just being his usual, pathetic, apologetic self, but somehow... she wasn't as angry. He was being kind. But she didn't find herself thinking it _too _kind; she _knew_ him. It was how he always was. Kind, smiling, handsome Minato.

Kushina had to keep herself from gasping. Like _hell_ was she in love.

She wasn't! The man was an absolute ass, and a pathetic one at that... well, not as pathetic as Arare, but still pathetic

...and he wasn't really an asshole, really. He was always just polite, even when things were inconveniencing her. Like that time when he had to go to the Daddy Class, and something came up, and the night where he came to her at the ramen stand and offered to...

Okay, so he wasn't an asshole at all, but she'd still call him that.

The fact of the matter was that Kushina couldn't see what was (or, rather, wasn't) wrong with the situation. She wasn't used to people being nice to her―her experience told her that, half the time, niceness was only for personal gain.

And here was Minato, being nice for the sake of being nice. She knew she should be mad at him, and ask him, "What do you want from me?!"

And yet, it felt... right, somehow.

No way in _hell_ was she in love.

But maybe... just maybe,_ he_ was in love with her.

Her face went remarkably blank at this realization, and she watched him eating for a few seconds. The Hokage, in love with her? Right. Sure. Maybe in some sort of cheap, romance novel that Sazanka might read. But not in real life.

"Is... something wrong, Kushina-san?" Minato asked, finally noticing that she was staring at him.

"Ah, er... nothing. Absolutely nothing," she lied, forcing a smirk. "Hehe, uh... great food."

He smiled back at her. "Thanks."

Why did he have to be so nice? He didn't have to. He absolutely didn't have to.

He could be the worst jerk in the world to her, and nobody would do a thing about it, because he was the Hokage. Men were usually jerks, anyways! Even back when she was, what, maybe 14, or 15 years old, Hyou would try and sneak over the walls at the public bath and get an ogle in, when they were on missions together. And Inoichi was only nice when he was showing her off in public, and when he wanted to get some action.

And then, there was Minato. Treating her to dinner, and then, one day, in the near near future, raising the son she never really wanted.

Why, why, _why?_

_Because he's in love,_ Kushina told herself._ In love with me. Why is he in _love _with me?_

Her toughness, maybe? She was one hell of a kunoichi, after all, and damn proud of it―and not everyone could claim that they sent the Hokage flying about 20 feet in the air.

As for looks, Kushina didn't really pay attention to that. She considered herself fairly attractive, but with a stomach that was beginning to rival Choza Akimichi's (at least in her opinion) she didn't exactly feel that way at all hours of the day.

But, she realized, she was so... _mean _to him.

All she could remember is yelling or laughing at his idiocy, or else giving him a hard time, or...

Why, why, why? Why was he being so nice to her? Was he afraid of her?

No, if he was afraid... she'd know it. Of course she'd know it.

"God, I feel like such an asshole," she said, under her breath.

"Kushina-san, is something-" he began again.

"Nothing, nothing, just stop! It's good!" she said quickly, and shoved some more pork cutlet in her mouth. "Fhee? Iff rearry goo'!"

And Minato laughed, and she felt a little relieved. The laugh felt natural. It was his laugh, and... yes, she knew it well. A little too well, she told herself, but she still knew it.

And it wasn't one of those nervous laughs that Arare gave when he was in a tight situation, or the canned, sterile laughter that Sumire used to look good in front of others. It was a real laugh.

Well, at least he wasn't scared of her. She still didn't know how... how in the world he loved her.

But, for the time being, she figured she would just go along with it.

Maybe she'd even try to be a little nicer to him.

But no way in hell was she in love with him, too.


	12. The Daddy Class

A/N: Long time no update, eh?

As of this updating, Kushina has been seen in the manga.

She is... not exactly my Kushina.

However, I'm still going to continue writing this story, and hope that this glimpse of her is only one, very, very small facet of her true personality.

Otherwise, no new notes.

Read and review, if you enjoyed, as usual!

-///-

"Okay, let's go over this again," Kushina said sternly, as she walked with Minato to the Daddy Class on the first day of July. "You are going to go through with this."

"Of course."

"No birds. No copping out."

"Yes."

"You're coming to this."

"Did you think I wouldn't?"

"Quite frankly? Yes."

Minato laughed. "I thought as much," he said.

"You have no spine, I swear," Kushina said sourly, "since you went and walked out on the last time, and then Dr. Himawari had to go and get sick like that. Pisses me off."

"Hopefully, this'll help?" Minato said, smiling.

"Maybe," Kushina said, smirking in spite of herself. "This is _not_ going to get messed up in_any_ way."

Unfortunately for Kushina, this wasn't exactly going to be the case.

Nishibi, upon their entering, escorted them to a rather larger room than usual—there were going to be twice as many people at this week's class, after all. Dr. Himawari, as usual, was already present.

"Is that Kushina I hear?" she said, tilting her head delightedly as they came in. "So glad you could make it!"

"Glad you could even hold a class!" Kushina replied, grinning. Minato had gone to get mats to sit on, but Kushina didn't care, sitting cross-legged on the tatami (with only the slightest difficulty). "Glad you're not off getting sick."

"Oh, it's... gotten much better," Himawari smiled. "Nato-kun, what are you doing over there?"

"Getting cushions," Minato replied, returning to Kushina with two purple ones in his arms. "Oh, hello there, Hiashi-sama. What brings you here?"

Kushina glanced at him confusedly. "Sama? What's with the -sama?"

"I'm here because of my wife," the man named Hiashi-sama replied, rather blankly and completely ignoring Kushina.

"So I see," Minato said.

"You come to all these classes?" Kushina said, leaning forward a little to peer at him properly. Hiashi, with cold eyes narrowed, furrowed his brow.

"...not often, no," he replied.

"Hiashi's here because... well, I'll wait," Himawari said happily, smiling. "I think there's somebody else arriving."

"Hello," Mikoto said brightly, entering indeed, with a man in tow, "Kushina-san, Hokage-sama!"

"Hey, Mikoto," Kushina replied, waving. She still hadn't gotten on the cushion Minato had fetched for her, though he was seated neatly on his. Squinting, she got a good look at what was probably Mikoto's husband.

He was, like the Hiashi-sama man, a very stern-faced individual, who very much resembled what little Kushina could remember about Mikoto's son, Itachi. Unlike Hiashi, however, he was smiling just slightly, but you had to look really carefully to notice.

Like Minato, he went to retrieve some cushions while Mikoto folded her skirt under her knees and carefully sat down beside Kushina. "Aren't you excited for this meeting? There hasn't been a proper one in at least a month or two, and that was before you joined us," she said sunnily.

"Yeah, it won't be so bad," Kushina replied, smiling. "I got Namikaze to finally come along with me, since he skipped out the first time."

"I had no choice that time, Kushina-san," he replied, laughing.

"Yeah, sure you did," Kushina said, rolling her eyes, and finally getting on her cushion; her butt was beginning to hurt, anyways. Tatami weren't exactly the softest things in the world. "By the way, Mikoto; this is your husband, right?"

Mikoto nodded. "My husband, Fugaku," she said, gesturing towards him. "I believe you and Hokage-sama have already met?"

"Repeatedly," Minato replied. "It's nice to meet you in a more relaxing location, Uchiha-san."

Fugaku said nothing, but smiled kindly and nodded.

"And you as well, Hiashi-sama," he added. "I do owe you and your brother quite a lot for your help in the war. Your Byakugan saved a lot of lives, for scouting."

"We're glad to have served you well, Hokage-sama," Hiashi replied, a vaguely stiff air in his voice.

Kushina's confusion grew in the silence, before finally climaxing in spoken word. "Hey, Namikaze? What's with the honorifics?"

Minato tilted his head. "Huh?"

"You know," she continued, waving her hand for effect, "all the -sama stuff. I've never heard you call anyone -_sama_ before."

Minato gave a look of rare confusion, as if he had no idea why Kushina didn't know. The fact of the matter was that she really _didn't_. And, so, he explained, "Hiashi-sama is the head of the Hyuuga clan, Kushina-san. Even _I_ have to show my respect," he added with a slight laugh.

Kushina still didn't really get it. "Eh?"

"Hiashi-sama is the _head_ of the _Hyuuga_ house," Minato repeated; Hiashi, looking on, was at a loss for words at the disgraceful woman before him. Luckily for him, Himawari, sensing a tension in his muscles through the floor, placed a calming hand on his knee before Kushina could respond.

"...wait," Kushina said, as the wheels in her head began to turn at full power. She then stared at Himawari. "You're married to the head of the Hyuuga house?!" she exclaimed.

Himawari nodded.

"...what the _hell_ are you doing, being a doctor?!" Kushina said, her mouth agape. "I mean, you're, like, living in the lap of luxury! You don't have to do a_thing_, do you?"

Hiashi gave a barely recognizable scoff, Minato blinking curiously at her outburst, but Himawari disregarded it with a smile. "I love to help people. My status shouldn't have anything to do with it," she replied.

"Pff, that's what they all say," Kushina said, rolling her eyes again. "Nobody_really_ likes their job for the sake of doing it."

"Why do you enjoy your missions as a jounin so much, then?" Himawari said sweetly, tilting her head but staring at nothing. "You were so reluctant to let go, once you found out you were expecting."

"Because I love the thrill! It makes life worth living!" Kushina replied, slamming a fist onto the tatami for emphasis. "It's the best thing ever!" Her eyes sparkled as she remembered the absolute rush she got while chasing down a missing-nin, tossing a kunai towards him and pinning him, by his shirt, to a tree.

Minato really did love that sparkle, but he didn't get very long to admire it.

"So, imagine that," Himawari explained, "and apply it to medicine and healing. That's how I feel about helping others."

"...you're just a hopeless romantic," Kushina decided, though smiling. "Ah, what's up, Inuzuka?"

Tsume, looking like she had shoved a watermelon underneath her t-shirt, stretched grandly before carefully sitting down. She didn't bother to get a cushion. "Nah'much," she replied. She yawned. "Just hoping that bitch-cakes will have taken a sudden tumble and decided not to come, or whatever."

"Ah, yeah," Kushina said, nodding. "Bitch-cakes" was the nickname for Sumire she had created with Tsume a week or two before. Both of them found it wonderfully appropriate. "Here's hoping, huh?"

"Kushina-san," Mikoto said, sounding vaguely disapproving, but Kushina shrugged and let it pass.

"Hopefully, this'll be the last time I'm in here, eh Hyuuga-sensei?" Tsume continued, leaning back luxuriously and scratching her swollen stomach. "I swear it won't be long."

"No, it shouldn't be long," Himawari replied. "Are you excited?"

"Hell yeah, I am," Tsume replied. "Hana too. Can't wait to meet her little brother. Ho-opefully," She stretched again, "this time'll be easier on me. I was in absolute _hell_ with Hana, I remember."

"Oh, yes," Himawari said, nodding. "That was a bit hard on you."

"I remember you calling me over," Mikoto added, her finger poised on her chin, "the evening before she was born. You almost tore your house apart!" She concluded the statement with a very inappropriate smile.

"Tore your house... apart?" Kushina said—while she could imagine Tsume indeed having the force of tearing a house apart, she had no idea _how_or even _why_.

However, she received no more answers, as Sumire and her husband had entered.

Kushina's eyes widened in a near-lethal mixture of jealousy, rage, and utter confusion.

"You," she said, standing immediately (which was quite a feat).

"...me?" Inoichi Yamanaka replied, almost innocently.

"You! You... you absolute... swine!!" Kushina yelled, stomping towards him as Minato, Tsume, and the Uchiha all turned to see what the commotion was all about. "You absolute piece of garbage and trash and... gah!!"

She very nearly had Inoichi by the throat, but luckily for him, Minato intervened. "Kushina-san, what are you doing?!" he said, keeping her hands well away from his neck.

"This bastard here," she replied, through gritted teeth, "has absolutely no taste in women. You bastard!"

"Er... I really don't know what's going on," Inoichi lied, scratching the back of his head. "Honestly, I don't."

Sumire, however, already had an inkling as to what was going on. "Do you _know_ her?" she said, her eyebrows tilted and her eyes narrowed.

"Er... we knew each other... once," he stammered.

"More like slept with me in just about every love hotel in Konoha," Kushina replied, with a bitter smile. Tsume's eyes widened in what was either astonishment, admiration, or both. "You used to brag to all your little friends _all_ the time."

Rather cornered, Inoichi turned to his wife with a nervous smile. Sumire was not pleased at all.

Still, however, she took advantage of the silence and carefully chose a cushion, sitting as far away from Kushina as possible and not saying a word about it.

Inoichi, much like a dog with his tail between his legs, went to join his wife, as Minato coaxed Kushina back into a sitting position.

"So I take it he's your ex-boyfriend?" he said quietly.

"Shut up, it's none of your business," she said gruffly, crossing her arms. "You're an absolute _swine_ you know that, Inoichi?" she added, rather loudly. "You absolute swine."

Inoichi didn't have anything to say in his defense, so he simply sat there with a sheepish, extremely helpless smile on his face.

Meanwhile, the Naras had entered without anyone noticing. Yoshino's scar-covered husband took a quick look around the room, before seeing Inoichi and grinning. "Hey, so I see you're here," he said. "Won't be so much torture, then."

He then noticed Kushina, sitting with an ice cold glare, and his smile fell significantly. "You could have told your ex not to come, you know," he said, whispering with his hand to his mouth rather loudly. "That's just bad news."

"Could we please start the class?" Yoshino said, impatiently, as Inoichi exchanged another rather helpless glance with his angry wife.

"Yes, if everyone would please get into a circle with your husbands," Himawari said, smiling and dearly hoping that Kushina and Sumire were far away from each other, "we'll start with some discussion, before moving to basic exercises."

"Ah, is that why you have Hiashi-sama with you today?" Mikoto said, getting off her cushion as Fugaku helped arrange them into a circle. "To help with demonstrating? I know you had a bit of a tough time during the last class."

"I'm here as a father-to-be, actually," Hiashi said, in his cold voice. He and Himawari hadn't bothered to move.

The room was silent for a short while, before somebody finally understood what it meant.

"Oh, you're_pregnant?!_" Tsume said, with a laugh.

Himawari beamed, and nodded. "I'm having a little girl in December!"

"That's nice," Yoshino said. Sumire said nothing.

"Trade you," Tsume said, laughing.

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Himawari replied.

Kushina, meanwhile, was doing a little math in her head. "Wait, so is that why you were sick last month?" she concluded, remembering rather bitterly the hell that her son had put her through in the first month or two of her pregnancy.

"Exactly," Himawari replied. "I'm so sorry about that."

"S'no big deal," Kushina replied, nodding, and feeling a little bad for hating Himawari for something so irrational as getting sick—especially now that she found out why. "I know what it's like. S'no big deal."

Himawari smiled in her general direction, before clearing her throat. "Is everyone in a circle, now? Wonderful. So, let's talk. First, the men—how are you feeling?"

There was a very uneasy silence.

Shikaku and Inoichi were too scared shitless to say anything; Hiashi had hardly anything to talk about (there were other things he could be doing at the time...); Fugaku and Minato didn't want to be rude and speak up first.

"...anyone?" Himawari said. There was still no answer. "...well. Um, then... is there anything you'd like to discuss? Mothers, fathers?"

Again, nobody had anything to say, for varying reasons of fear and politeness. Himawari frowned a little.

"I suppose we can start some Lamaze, then," she said, and managed a smile. "Maybe that'll bring up some conversation, huh? Men, please sit with your wives between your legs and resting against your chest." With Hiashi's help, she carefully positioned herself into the proper position. "Like so. Is everyone there?"

Kushina felt just the slightest sense of... surreality, as Minato balanced her against him. It had been a long time since they had had such... intimate contact. It took a great deal of effort to keep herself from blushing. Damned if she looked embarrassed!

Luckily for her, Tsume provided a distraction. "I don't have a man, Himawari-sensei," she replied.

"Oh, really?" Sumire said softly, lounging almost like cat against Inoichi, who was quite frozen in fear.

"Shut the fuck up, bitch-cakes," Tsume replied, under her breath.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that, Tsume... I forgot," Himawari replied, with genuine apologetic tones, dearly wanting them to not fight. "Does anyone want to volunteer to help Tsume?"

"I'll help out once Kushina and I are finished," Minato said, and Kushina looked up at him.

"Huh?! What?!" she said. She frowned. "Am I not good enough for you, or something?"

"No, no!" Minato replied quickly. "Only after you're done!"

"I'm not letting you run out of this for one _second, _Namikaze," she replied. "You're stickin' with me."

"Fair enough," Minato replied, smiling sheepishly.

"I still need a partner," Tsume said.

Kushina, then, found what she thought was the perfect solution. "Why don't you ask Inoichi?" she said. "The man's got no taste in women, so it shouldn't matter who he's practicing with in the first place!"

Sumire glared with an expression that could probably kill a small animal, if she tried. Inoichi, contrastingly, turned a deep shade of red.

Tsume thought it was funny. For a short while.

Then, she realized, "Wait... are you insulting me?"

"Insulting you how?" Kushina blinked.

Yoshino yawned.

"'No taste in women,' huh?!" Tsume continued, her teeth bared in a rather animal-like way. Kushina noticed, with just the slightest twinge of fear, that her canines were _huge_. "Wow, that's says a lot!"

Kushina then realized just how, exactly, that had come out. "Er! I mean! I don't mean you! I mean the swine!" she stammered, getting on her knees and out of Minato's hold. "Not you at all!"

"Right," Tsume said, sighing. "I really thought you were better than that, Kushina. If you'll excuse me," she added, rising and glaring at Sumire, "I'll be leaving now. Enjoy that trashy husband of yours, bitch-cakes."

Tsume left, and Kushina felt very, very awful.

"I gotta go," she said quickly, and left the room as well, dearly hoping that Minato wouldn't follow her outside.

Tsume was, rather resolutely, marching away from the Hyuuga clinic, but rather slowly. It didn't take Kushina long to catch up.

"Inuzuka! Hey, let me explain!"

Tsume looked over her shoulder and growled. Kushina shied back. "What do you want?"

"I didn't mean to insult you. I mean, really, I didn't," Kushina said, screwing up her face in absolute embarrassment. "It was all for bitch—I mean, Sumire. I mean, she's... yeah, well, we know how she's like, right?"

She attempted a nervous laugh, but Tsume (who had by now turned around completely) didn't look amused at all.

Kushina sighed, understanding that she wasn't getting her point across at all. "...look. Really. I'm really sorry. You're an awesome person, I didn't mean to have that... insult you and..." She really felt like punching herself in the face—why couldn't she say what she wanted? "I just think you're cool, Inuzuka. I don't think you're a slut or anything."

"...zzat so?" Tsume replied. Well, at least she wasn't growling anymore.

Kushina nodded. "You're worth more than ten bitch-cakes, Tsume," she said, holding back the grimace when she realized she had said Tsume's first name. Still, she continued. "You could... eat 'em all for breakfast, even!"

Tsume snorted.

Then, she roared with laughter.

"You know what? I take it all back," she said, her laughs subsiding into sniffs through her nose. "I knew you were a good person, Uzumaki."

Kushina grinned with a relieved sigh. "Oh, thank _god_," she said. "I thought you were gonna, like, go back and get a sword and come kill me."

"Naw, I'd never do that," Tsume said, putting a hand on Kushina's shoulder and laughing. "I'd send Kuromaru to go and rip your throat out, but never a sword."

Somehow, this wasn't very comforting.

Nevertheless, Kushina said, "Should we head back?"

"Yeah, sure," Tsume said, and with their arms around each others' backs, the two women merrily returned to the Daddy Class.

Much to their surprise, Inoichi had been consensually handed over by the rest of the group to be Tsume's partner by the time of their return.


	13. The Trouble With Nesting

A/N: Hey, you guys. Sorry for the less-than-stellar previous chapter.

I guess I was really upset over seeing Kushina for the first time, but I've come to terms with it, and I'm not bothered by it anymore. Which is a really very good thing, isn't it? My writing's recovered as well.

No notes for this chapter, really. Review if you enjoyed, as usual!

-///-

"Hey, Uzumaki? Get your butt over here. I'm nesting, and I need another person around to keep me from tearing the house apart."

Kushina, the phone balanced between her shoulder and her ear, knit her eyebrows. "Eh?"

"Nesting," Tsume said irritably, on the other side. "I was like this with Hana. I can't control myself."

"...okay?"

Tsume sighed. Kushina could almost hear her foot tapping on the floor. "Listen, just get over here," she said. "I've already called Mikoto and she's helping bring Himawari-sensei over. Yoshino's busy, and I won't even_try_ with bitch-cakes."

Kushina didn't say anything.

"Dammit, Uzumaki, just get over here!" Tsume said, and hung up.

Kushina stared at the phone for a short while, before hanging up and heading out the door.

Nevermind the fact that she had no idea where Tsume's house was. She figured she'd ask Mikoto.

-///-

"So, uh... what's this nesting situation, anyways?" Kushina said, about an hour later. She had spent a good amount of time fruitlessly searching for Mikoto around the Uchiha compound, only to run into her on accident as she made a quick return trip home to get something.

"Oh, it happens to just about every mother-to-be," Mikoto said sunnily, "myself included. Although... not exactly to the extent of Tsume-san."

"Elaborate," Kushina said. If she'd have to go through this "nesting" thing, she might as well find out what it is.

"Well... about a week or so before the baby's born, your maternal instincts sorta... kick in a little more than usual," Mikoto said, thinking with her fingers on her chin. "For example, um... have you ever kept a dog, or a cat?"

"Nope."

"Oh." Mikoto thought some more. "Well, let's see... Most of the time, you start tidying up your house a little more than usual, or you just start... doing things, that you think you need to have done before the baby comes."

"Like...?"

"Like, when I was pregnant with Itachi," she explained, "I just got this terrible urge to get all my family photos together and finally organize them. So I would just spend _hours_ putting them in scrapbooks, and then once I was all done, ping! I went into labor."

"That's... nice," Kushina said, not exactly liking the pleasant smile Mikoto spoke with. "So, uh... how does this apply to Tsume? She said she was gonna tear her house apart."

"That's why I asked if you ever had a dog or a cat," Mikoto said. "Usually, when dogs or cats are going to have a litter, they make a nest out of paper or towels or something before they go and have their babies. I had a cat, and she'd make her nest out of my bedsheets, it was so funny." She laughed. "So, of course, Tsume's doing something similar."

"Meaning...?"

"Meaning," Mikoto said, as they rounded the corner and entered the street where Tsume's house was "she's making a nest out of everything she can find."

"And...?"

"And it means her house is in danger," she said pleasantly. "So, we've got to keep her from it. Come on."

"Ah," Kushina said, as Mikoto led her through the gate and into the house.

It was quite a mess inside.

Tsume was, presently, digging through her closet (her bedroom lay near the foyer) and sending her clothes flying everywhere. Himawari, looking vaguely troubled, sat on one of the kitchen chairs. "Mikoto, is that you?" she asked.

"Yes, I have Kushina with me too," she replied.

"Oh, thank GOD," Tsume growled, as she sent a pair of shorts flying through the air. "I thought you guys would never come. Help me."

"With what?" Kushina said, as Tsume went stomping out of her room and into another.

"Stop me!" Tsume's voice yelled, and she reappeared, holding what appeared to be an enormous, cream-colored pillow, carrying it into her room.

Mikoto and Kushina quick exchanged glances, before Kushina rolled up her sleeves with a shrug. "Let's give it a try?" she said, semi-hopefully.

Mikoto smiled. "Sure," and together, they ran forward to restrain Tsume, grabbing her by the arms.

"Bring her here, I'll calm her down," Himawari said, Tsume kicking and squirming as best she could.

"How?" Kushina said, narrowly avoiding getting elbowed.

"Just bring her," Himawari said, a note of rare anger in her voice. Somewhat scared, Kushina and Mikoto obliged. "Back towards me, please," Himawari said, and once that was assured, she placed her hands on Tsume's back for a moment, before hammering a series of points on her back in quick succession.

Instantly, Tsume's body relaxed, almost sleepy, and Mikoto and Kushina had to work harder to hold her up. "What did you do to her?" Kushina asked.

"Pressure points," Himawari said, almost proudly. "I slowed down the reactions of her nerves, so she'll be a lot more relaxed. Oh, do put her back in her bedroom."

"Man, when I finally have this kid? Promise me you'll do that to me," Kushina said, seeing Tsume's face lapse into an almost drunken smile. How could she not ask? Tsume looked like she was thoroughly enjoying herself.

"If I'm available, Kushina-san," Himawari said sunnily. "If I'm available."

Mikoto and Kushina managed to meander their way around the jungle of strewn clothes in Tsume's bedroom, placing her on the bed, where she proceeded to lay on her side and sigh. "My goodness, what a mess," Mikoto said, upon surveying the mess.

"What, do you think we have to clean it up, now?"

"It would be polite..."

"Cleanupdamess," Tsume mumbled. "Idunwannadealwidit."

"Well, she did ask us to keep her from tearing her house apart," Mikoto said, sunnily. "You want to start from that corner, Kushina-san?"

Kushina sighed a sigh that quickly segued into a whine. "Do I have to?"

From the other bedroom in the house, there came a decidedly childlike moan, and a little girl no older than 4 or 5 came into the room, riding on the back of a rather scarred dog. "'smom done n'all?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Ah, is that Hana-chan?" said Mikoto, sticking her head out of the bedroom door, a pile of sweatshirts in her arms. "Where were you?"

"I told her to go wait in her room and keep the door locked, until you two came back and calmed Tsume-san down," Himawari said, smiling. "I wanted to keep her room a little clean, at least."

"Your mommy's calmed down now, Hana," Mikoto said, with utterly sweet tones.

"Oh. 'sgood," Hana said, nodding as she dismounted the dog. She patted him on the head. "Does this mean I get a lil' brother today?"

"It may very well be the case," said Himawari. "We'll just have to see."

"'sgood," Hana said again. "I'm gon' go feed Kuromaru, okay?"

"You do that, sweetie," said Mikoto. She then frowned a little. "Kushina-san, won't you help pick up just a little?"

"Fine," Kushina sighed, picking up a single pair of jeans, hastily folding them into something resembling a square, and dumping it back on the floor. She quickly went to look for another.

"Oh, Kushina-san, honestly," Mikoto said, laughing in spite of herself. "You expect to get anything done like that?"

"Sorta," Kushina replied truthfully, and dropped another semi-folded pair of pants on the ground.

Moments later, she found Mikoto's hands on her hands, after she had picked up a shirt and begun haphazardly folding it. "You do it like this," she said, guiding Kushina as the shirt became smaller and smaller, and, somehow, had turned into a neatly folded square.

"Ah," Kushina said, blinking as Mikoto took it away and placed it in a growing pile of folded laundry near Tsume's closet. "Um. Wow."

It was really kinda cool.

"Mind showing me that again?" Kushina said. Mikoto smiled, and, of course, was more than happy to.

-///-

By the end of the afternoon, Kushina was a veritable folding master. Mikoto had taught her how to fold everything from t-shirts, to pants, to even underwear, balling up the (few) panties into... cute little round balls, much like socks. Okay, so Kushina would never call them "cute," but they were a lot more attractive than how Kushina stored her own frilly unmentionables: flung haphazardly into her drawer and extremely wrinkled as a result.

She took great pride in showcasing her ability to Mikoto, once she felt she had gotten it down, and even went so far as to unfold one of the shirts she had just folded and marching into the living room, where Himawari was teaching Hana how to fold paper flowers.

"Hey, Himawari-sensei! Check this out!" she said proudly, and folded a perfectly square T-shirt. "Ain't that cool?"

"I'm sure I'd appreciate it more if you told me what you were doing in the first place, Kushina-san," Himawari replied, with an almost embarrassed smile.

Oh yeah. Himawari was blind, wasn't she?

"Er, sorry," Kushina said, quickly crumpling the shirt between her fists. "I,uh..."

"Forgot? It's all right." Himawari smiled.

"She was foldin' one of mom's fav'rite t-shirts," Hana explained, sticking out her tongue as she struggled to fold one of the more difficult petals of her paper flower. "It looks like a square, but she smooshed it."

"Did she, now?" said Himawari. "I'm sure it looks wonderful."

"Yeah, sure," Kushina said, her face still hot with embarrassment.

"Nuh-uh," Hana said. "It looks cool. Can you teach me how to do that?"

"Go ask Mikoto," Kushina said flatly.

Hana ripped her flower, and tossed it further down the floor. Her mother's dog sniffed at it almost disdainfully. "Farts," she said.

"Himawari-sensei?" Mikoto was calling from the bedroom. "You might want to come over here."

"Oh, goodness," Himawari said, carefully picking herself off the chair and making her way towards Mikoto's voice. "What is it?"

"Tsume's woken up," Mikoto said, sounding extremely worried.

Kushina, not wanting to make herself seem like a totally insensitive jerk, offered a hand to Himawari. "Uh, need help getting over there?"

"I'm fine, thank you," Himawari replied, bypassing the hand and slowly, carefully, but surely making her way into the bedroom.

Well, at least she tried, and Kushina followed her in.

Tsume was awake, all right, and looking in visible discomfort. She had begun to pant, as if she had been running all day, and she frowned as Himawari entered.

"Purp..." she grunted.

Himawari found the bed and, patting a few times before finding it, placed a hand on her forehead. "Oh, dear, she's got a fever."

"Does that mean...?" Mikoto said, holding her elbows.

"We'll just have to see..." Himawari said, though her face was less than calm.

"Purp," Tsume said again.

"Huh, what's that?" Kushina said, quite possibly more confused than the rest of them about the whole thing.

"Purp!" Tsume said, between clenched teeth.

"Mikoto-san, would you go and get a cloth to put on her forehead? Cold, please," Himawari said. Mikoto nodded, and left.

Hana's voice wafted in from the living room. "Somethin' wrong with mom?" she said.

"Your mother's fine, dear," Mikoto said, managing to sound reassuring.

Kushina, seeing that she had nothing else to do (all the clothing was folded and, for the most part, put away by now), trailed her head on Tsume's bedcovers as she walked around it.

Tsume squirmed, and Kushina, not quite knowing the reason why, sat on the end of the bed and began to rub her back for her.

She figured it was a good thing to do, since Tsume looked like she wasn't exactly feeling her best. When she was little, her dad and her brother used to always give her backrubs when she was sick in bed. They'd start at the base of the back, and work up until they got to her shoulders, all the while sending a terrific warm feeling all through her body.

It was the same with Tsume, Kushina carefully pressing her hands along her spine and moving her way up to the ribcage, the shoulderblades, the shoulders.

"Purp...!" Tsume groaned again, her jaw still fixed, and her words surging through her teeth.

"Hey, hey, calm down," Kushina said, molding her shoulders into a more relaxed position. "Calm down."

"Purp...!!" Tsume said again.

Kushina, in the midst of her rubbing, furrowed her brow for reasons outside of frustration. "Something the matter?"

"Purp!"

"Are you trying to say something, or something?" Kushina said, leaning over.

"Purp!!" Tsume said urgently, and even Himawari noticed this time.

"Is something the matter?" she said softly.

"Just tell us, Tsume!" Kushina said.

Tsume's face turned red, as she strained to open her mouth.

Finally, she screamed. "PUP!!"

And, indeed, something resembling a "pup" appeared as a rather misshapen lump of something in Tsume's pant leg, accompanied by a great deal of liquid that stained her gray pants an even darker gray.

Kushina got herself off the bed quicker than the fastest ANBU in Konoha. "WHAT THE SHIT WAS THAT," she yelled.

It was at that moment that Mikoto came in with her cool towel, her eyes widening. Hana peered around her legs, attracted by the commotion.

"Bastard son of a motherfucking bastard!" Tsume yelled, managing to sit up, and attempting to take off her pants. "I'm going to kill you for coming so fast, you little mongrel."

There was a rather stunned silence as Tsume successfully removed her pants, revealing—of all things!—a baby boy, still attached to his umbilical cord. He began to wail, and instantly, Himawari understood what had happened.

"Goodness gracious," she said, her voice almost hushed. "Mikoto-san, I don't think we'll need that towel anymore. Would you please get me some dry towels? Blankets?"

Mikoto, smiling, left. Hana, on the other hand, stayed, absolutely awestruck.

Kushina was speechless as well, but for entirely different reasons.

She had just witnessed a baby being born. A real, actual, factual baby. She felt slightly ill, especially considering that, in a little less than two months, she'd be doing much of the same thing.

Hana interrupted her thoughts as she, almost reverently, approached the bed. "Mom, is that my lil' brother?" she said.

Tsume, holding the baby (whose wails had been reduced to shivery sobs), grinned. "Yep. Here's your little brother, Hana."

"Wow..." Hana whispered, and Mikoto entered with several (discolored yet fluffy-looking) towels in her arms from the bathroom. Tsume placed the baby on her chest, and a blanket over the baby, smiling. "Mom, he's all wrinkly."

"'course he is, you silly," Tsume said. "Hey, thanks," she told Mikoto, who smiled in return as Himawari produced a small knife from her apron and, after measuring how far from the baby she was, tied the cord with some thread and cut it.

"No problem," Mikoto said. "Oh my goodness, Tsume, he's so cute!"

By this point, Kushina was having a hard time keeping her stomach under control. After all, Tsume didn't have any pants on (even though the towel was mercifully big and provided more than enough coverage), and there was a good deal of blood (from _what_, exactly, she couldn't guess) staining the sheets.

Not to mention the baby, whose face was wrinkled and red and covered in a disgusting substance she couldn't quite identify. Not exactly "cute," as Mikoto said.

"I, uh... I gotta go," she stammered, gulping and making her way towards the door.

Before any of them could say goodbye, she had run out of the house, taken a few steps away, and barfed into a nearby trash can.

She wanted it all to not be real. She didn't want to go through... _that._ With the blood and the pain and the disgusting-looking baby.

And she prided herself on being able to handle blood. She'd gotten wounded worse, she'd seen corpses mutilated to the point where they couldn't be recognized as human anymore. But this was another thing entirely, and it made her sick to her stomach.

There was a strange, cold, wet sensation on her leg, and she looked down to see Tsume's dog (what was his name? Something-maru?) gazing plaintively up at her, a towel in his mouth.

"What, did they send you out here?" she asked.

Strangely enough, the dog nodded.

"Who sent you? Tsume?"

Stranger still, the dog glared, as if to say "Do you honestly think I can tell you that? I'm a dog, for crying out loud."

"Ah, right," Kushina said, and took the towel, wiping off her face with it. "Thanks."

The dog nudged himself against her leg again, and opened his mouth. It almost looked like the scarred old thing was grinning at her.

"What, are you thanking me or something?"

Another nod.

"I didn't do anything," Kushina said, and looked at the towel the dog had given her. "I just folded clothes. See?" In a matter of seconds, she had the towel in a neat square, just like the rest of the clothes. "I'm pretty good at it, aren't I?"

The dog gave her a decidedly unamused glance.

Kushina groaned. "Here, just take your stupid towel back," she said, thrusting it towards the dog. He bit it and, after a final glance, trotted back into the Inuzuka home with it.

Kushina could have easily followed the dog inside and helped Mikoto and Himawari a little more. She could have easily teased the baby with her usual coarse language, and even helped with dinner a little, if she had stayed long enough.

Instead, she went home and took a very long, but by no means enjoyable, nap, her stomach filling with ice each time her son so much as fluttered within her.

She was absolutely overwhelmed, and it made her feel sick. She was ashamed.

So, the next day, she trotted over to Tsume's house to inspect the damage, and found that the baby had gotten a bit more baby-like, that the soiled pants had been cleaned and placed in the closet, and that Hana had successfully learned how to fold clothes in a manner more or less resembling Kushina and Mikoto's precision.

And, somehow, it made her feel just the slightest bit better. Especially when she and Tsume conspired over lunch to all but ignore Sumire "bitch-cakes" Yamanaka when she started "nesting," both of them praying that she'd tear her house apart, kill her whore of a husband, or all of the above.


	14. Skeptics and Naturals

A/N: Good god, I'm so sorry for taking so long to update.

I hit a bit of a stagnant period in my creativity, but I'm happy to report that I'm getting back into the swing of things. I must admit, seeing the movie Juno was a bit of a help. If any of you haven't seen it yet, I'd highly recc. it. Juno and Kushina would get along swimmingly, I think, if you define "swimmingly" as snarkily taking shots at each other.

Anyways, no new notes for this chapter, really. Only an apology for taking so long.

Read and review, if you like it. And I swear, I'll update sooner next time.

Till then!  
- Rii

-///-

Kushina, before she got pregnant, thoroughly enjoyed naps. She could fall asleep just about anywhere, given enough tiredness or heat, and it never failed to rejuvenate her better than a soda or cup of tea.

After she got pregnant, however, her naps were less than enjoyable.

Before she knew she was pregnant, she could hardly nap at all, due to the fact that her son was giving her terrific cases of all-day morning sickness. So, even when she wanted to sleep, the nausea kept her on her toes and always halfway between the bathroom and the bed.

When it finally subsided, her naps were peaceful once more, for a time. Her growing belly caused a bit of discomfort, when it got a little bigger, but she slept on her side most of the time, anyways, so it wasn't that much of a trouble.

It was only after Kiba had been born that the freaky-ass dreams started occurring.

They weren't so bad, at first. Just mildly disturbing. Just kind of weird.

One of the first ones (which happened quite a lot) was one where Kushina would open her stomach with a zipper, take the baby out, and wrap him up in a crisp white sheet. She'd wake up before she could get a good look at his face, or what she did with him afterward.

Other times, she'd dream that she was, miraculously, not pregnant anymore, and out kicking major amounts of ass—only, she'd wake up to find that she was still a little over six months gone, with her son doing what she amounted was his version of kicking ass (if her uterus counted as "ass," anyways).

"You think they dream what we're dreaming?" she asked Tsume one day, after experiencing a particularly vivid dream of that sort. "You know, like, if I'm dreaming that I'm tossing kunai and shit at missing nin, you think they're dreaming it at the same time?"

Tsume shrugged, and yawned. The two of them were lounging on the couch together, with Kiba sleeping in Tsume's room and Hana at a friend's house. "I have no idea what babies dream, whether they're inside you or not," she said. "Why'd you say that?"

"Cos this little guy," Kushina said, leaning back so her stomach could stick out a little more, "was bruising my insides, or something like that, last night."

"What, and you were dreaming of swimming or something?" Tsume said.

"No, no," Kushina said. "I was, like..." She raised her arms, trying to remember the specifics, "...kicking ass! You know?"

Tsume shrugged again. "I s'ppose."

Dreams of this sort continued for a few days, Kushina only bothered by the heightened amount of kicking they brought on.

"If you're not a top-class ninja," she muttered, fondly, one crudely-awoken afternoon, "I have no idea what this kicking business is all about. You like hurting your mother, huh?" The baby did nothing in reply, but Kushina laughed all the same.

The dreams got stranger and stranger from that point onward.

One night, when a fierce July storm made the branches of the many trees quiver and shake and threaten to blow away, Kushina was visited by an unusually calm dream as she curled underneath her sheets, lightning flashing and illuminating her room through the glass.

Her dream was softly-lit, and a pale shade of yellow sunlight. Her apartment was silent, but she smelled something nice.

Minato was cooking breakfast for her on the stove, a baby—his baby—strapped to a carrier at his front, still floppy with sleep. "Good morning, sleepy head," he said, smiling.

A crack of thunder ripped his face apart, and Kushina jerked awake, finding herself in the dark again, with rain angrily thudding against her window.

No, there was no Minato at her stove, she thought as she blinked her eyes in the poor light. Her son began kicking up a storm, and she placed a hand on her stomach. "Hey, hey. Calm down, you," she said. "What's the matter?"

A clap of thunder struck the sky, and a rather forceful jab stuck her near her ribs. "Ah, is that what's got you scared?" Kushina said, not even taking into account that the baby probably couldn't hear that much. "It's just a little thunder. It can't get you."

The kicking subsided a little, and she lay down again, falling back to sleep.

No, there was no Minato in her kitchen.

Another dream arrived not long after, on a calmer night. Funnily enough, it was a more chaotic dream.

She was in a hospital, giving birth. It didn't hurt at all, but she still screamed like she saw in all the cheesy television specials and movies. The room was whiter than white, and she couldn't recognize any of the hospital staff, who shuffled about nervously, peering between her legs and shouting things like "Push!" and "I can see the head!"

And then, somebody produced a baby. And she saw, for a fleeting moment, a mop of yellow hair, and eyes bluer than the sky.

She woke up, grateful that she was still in bed. The baby, funnily enough, was calmer than usual. "Funny sense of humor you got there, kid," she said, drowsily, and returned to sleep and not dream of anything.

The next morning, she received a happy phone call from Mikoto that her son had been born in the night, and if she wanted to come by and see him, she was more than welcome to.

"Thanks for not, like, calling me in the middle of the night," Kushina said, grinning as she stood in the doorway of Mikoto's bedroom.

Mikoto smiled. "It's okay, I figured you'd prefer your sleep to my screaming," she said, all too pleasantly.

Kushina, uncomfortably reminded of the dream she had had in the night, smiled nervously and stepped forward. "So, uh, where is he?"

"Oh, Sasuke? He's asleep," she smiled. "Right here." She gestured to her side, where a very small baby was wrapped tightly in a dark blue blanket.

Kushina, almost carefully, tilted her head. "Wow, he's..." she began, struggling for words. "...got a really wrinkly face."

Mikoto began to laugh. "They're not that cute when they're only a few days old," she said.

"Yeah, you should see Tsume's kid," Kushina said, laughing as she sat on the edge of the bed. "Little Kiba, god, he's uglier than a frog and he smells twice as bad."

Mikoto laughed again. "Ah, but he's starting to look a little better, isn't he? He's almost a month old," he said.

Kushina grinned. "Yeah, he's actually starting to look like a baby. 'course, _my_ kid won't take all that long, that's for sure."

A smile. "And why is that?"

Kushina shrugged. "Just because. Besides, just look at his dad," she added, casually. "I think that guy's kinda incapable of not looking like some sorta god."

Mikoto burst into laughter. Kushina scowled. "Hey, what's the big deal?"

"You just called the Hokage a god," she replied, grinning.

Kushina, suddenly realizing what she had just said, turned a little read. "Yeah, so? Uh. Yeah! Doesn't mean I think he really _is_ a god, y'know. Just a figure of speech." She scowled. "Hey, stop laughing at me!"

"Fair enough, fair enough," Mikoto said, though her smile quickly disappeared when Sasuke began to wake up, disturbed by Kushina's yelling. "Oh, dear dear dear..." She quickly took the baby and held him closely, her snug grip placating him and calming him down.

"Wow, how'd you get him to quiet down so quickly?"she said, her eyes widening. She shifted herself a little, to get a little more comfortable.

Mikoto's eyes were warm and thoughtful as she bounced the baby a little bit, rocking him, and holding him closer. "It makes him feel like he's inside me again," she replied. "He was, after all, born just last night, so this is a whole new experience for him. Familiar things calm babies down."

"No shit," Kushina said softly. She watched Mikoto hold the baby for a while longer, imagining if she would be doing something like that in the next few months, holding her son in such a warm and utterly loving way.

Then again, she wasn't going to raise him—he was going straight to Minato's house. Besides, she could hardly imagine herself holding a baby with that tender expression Mikoto now had. It looked natural on her, but Kushina doubted it would suit her at all. She never really did do well with kids.

But, would he let her?

She sighed, smiling a little. The guy had no spine, of course he'd let her. And besides, his son was also hers. She had a right, didn't she?

"What's got you looking so happy, Kushina-san?" Mikoto said, leaning over a little and smiling.

Kushina didn't reply, simply shrugging and leaning back a little. The morning sun fell through the open window, and the air was calm. Mikoto could practically feel the utter contentment radiating from her body. "Would you like to hold him?" she asked, unexpectedly.

The content silence was immediately broken, with an almost audible shatter. "Huh?"

"Would you like to hold Sasuke? You'll be the first outside of the family to do so, you know," she added, almost cheekily.

"Oh, I dunno..." said Kushina. "I might make him cry."

"Nonsense, you'll be fine. I'll take him back if you think you'll upset him," she said, and her tone of voice made it all but impossible to deny her. "Go on, come a little closer, I'll put him in your arms."

Kushina sighed and, scooting next to Mikoto, held out her arms and had the baby put in.

Sasuke was a very small and very delicate-looking creature, his body tensing and curling up beneath the blanket at Kushina's touch, wanting to wrap closer and closer into himself. Kushina grimaced. "Oh, god, he's gonna wake up..."

"Just hold him in the crook of your arm," Mikoto said, "he'll be fine. Just let him settle where he wants."

Kushina, her eyebrows knit in frustration at the difficulty this was presenting her, tried to shift the baby into a more natural position, but he simply squirmed a little more. "God, I suck at this," she groaned.

"You're doing fine. Just let him get settled," said Mikoto.

And, by some miracle, Sasuke did get settled. He turned his head, covered in downy black hair, towards Kushina, and her heartbeat. His face smoothed, just a little, as he stopped squirming and lay there, perfectly still, except for his breathing.

Kushina was astonished. "I told you were doing fine," Mikoto said. "See? You're a natural."

"Only with your help, jeesh," Kushina replied, but her voice was only half-heartedly angry as she continued with what she was now considering a "practice run" at baby-holding. Mikoto let her be, as Kushina watched Sasuke breath in and out, and occasionally move his mouth. "Does he do that to you too?" she finally asked. "Y'know, put his head up to your boob and all that?"

"I'd assume he will," she replied. Kushina looked at her confusedly. "Well, Itachi did it, so I wouldn't be surprised if Sasuke does it as well," she explained.

"Huh. I wonder why they do that?" said Kushina. "Is it because they're hungry?"

"I think it's because they like listening to your heartbeat," Mikoto replied. "It must be rather calming."

Kushina thought about it for a moment, before deciding, "Huh, that's an idea. Maybe you're right."

Once more, there was silence in the room, and once more, there was contentment.

-///-

Kushina had a very quiet afternoon, after she left Mikoto's house, laying on her couch and not even bothering to turn on the radio. How long would it be, now, before she'd be doing something like that?

Dr. Himawari said that her "due date" was October 3rd, and that day was July 23rd, so that meant it would be less than two months before she'd be in some hospital, or wherever, having her own baby nestling close to her chest, listening to her heartbeat.

She moved from her back and onto her side, and her heartbeat thudded in her ear as she pressed her head against the couch arm. Lub-dub. Lub-dub. Was that really all that calming to babies?

"Must be awful nice in there, kid, if you want to keep pretending you're in there after you're out," she said, "like that Sasuke kid. Personally, I don't see what's so great about sitting in somebody's guts and kicking all the time, but hey, whatever floats your boat."

The baby gave a small fluttering movement, and she chuckled. "So you're listening to me, are you? Well, then, why don't we try something out. One kick for yes, two kicks for no. Understand?"

No kicks. Kushina sensed that this wasn't exactly going to work. "Ah, nevermind. Still, hey, you like listening to me talk?" One kick. She laughed. "Bit of a wiseguy, are you...? Well, then." She got off her side and lay on her back again, her head on the couch arm. "So long as you're sorta-listening, what should we talk about?"

The baby did nothing, so Kushina laughed. "You can't tell me anyways, jeesh, what am I thinking? Not that you know much, anyways. You just float around in there, dontcha?" The baby squirmed. "Maybe I should tell you a bit of something, eh? Would you like that?" A kick. "Okay, where to begin..."

She leaned back, thoughtfully, not even minding that her son didn't even understand the concept of language. "Hm... well, out here, let's see... There's lots of neat stuff. And cool people. Dunno where to start, really." She scratched her chin. "Well, I guess the first person you'll ever meet (besides me, 'course) is your dad." She grinned, almost childishly. "Did you know he's the Hokage? It means he's got a ton of power and responsibility, but it doesn't mean he's not..."

She was going to say "an ass," though, upon thinking on it, he really wasn't. "He's a swell guy," she admitted, "I'll give him that. And you're lucky he's your dad, because..."

She sighed, almost unhappy, remembering how comfortably Sasuke had curled into her arms—but only after Mikoto had told her what to do. Her face fell. "Because he'll be a hell of a lot better parent than me, that's for sure."

There was a quiet, almost reassuring kick, and she smiled a little. "What, you think I'd do pretty good?" Another kick. "Well, that's nice to know," she added, smiling. "You're my kid too, anyways. I don't see Namikaze running all around Konoha with a hugeass stomach. He's not the one carrying you around; I am."

She imagined herself holding her baby, wondering what he'd look like, if he'd curl up in that endearing, warm, baby way. What would he look like, there? Would there be a head full of his father's yellow hair, or her family's red? Would he nestle into her arms naturally, or tense up and cry?

She sighed. "I swear, I'll come by and visit you all the time," she told her son. "I don't want you messed up by that softy dad of yours. You're my kid too."

The baby was quiet, and Kushina tilted her head back to look out the window. The sky was a piercing, almost enamel-like blue. She sighed again, and rested her head against the couch arm. It was a warm afternoon.

She fell into a warm sleep, and dreamed she was sitting on the top of a green hill, with a blue enamel sky. She was having a picnic with someone she loved, and it made her happy.


	15. Debts

A/N:

Ah, the tension! Not much to mention here. Though, if you look closely, you'll find some odd little things sneaking around.

Read and review if you liked, as usual!  
- Rii

-///-

Kushina awoke from the morning of her monthly appointment with Dr. Himawari in a cold, terrifying sweat.

She had been dreaming about her family.

Her family did not give her pleasant dreams.

Sleepily, angrily, and still breathing a little heavily, she glanced at her clock. 3:49 AM. Far too early to be awake at all.

At least the baby wasn't kicking. She scowled, looking out the window for a moment, before reaching over to scratch her legs, and flopping back onto her pillow.

She didn't dream of anything else, and woke up at 9. Nevertheless, it wasn't any way to start a morning.

_Still,_ she thought, yawning as she took her orange-not-pink-peach blouse out of her drawer, _might as well start the day off cheerfully. Stupid to let a dream bother you..._

So far, things were going slowly, sleepily, but altogether rather pleasantly.

It was an absolutely gorgeous August day, with a nice breeze and an intensely blue sky. The leaves that gave Konoha its name were rustling and flying in swatches of bright green that caught the light as they flew. Kushina even whistled a little as she entered Dr. Himawari's office, and walked by Nishibi entirely to get to her office.

It seemed that Dr. Himawari was busy. Her hands, glowing a faint lilac-blue with chakra, were holding a very, very small arm, belonging to a little boy who couldn't have been more than a year old. He did not look amused.

Her husband stood nearby, smiling in what was either an exasperated or amused expression. Kushina was confused. "Excuse me?" she said.

Himawari did not look up. "I'd know those footsteps anywhere, Kushina-san. You have an appointment today, don't you? You're a little early," she added primly.

"Yeah, I guess I am, aren't I?" Kushina said. "Sorry 'bout that."

"It's all right," Himawari replied. "If you want, you can wait in here while I finish."

"Sure." Kushina sat, carefully and cross-legged, on the floor. The baby that Himawari was tending to began to fuss, the cut on his hand beginning to sting a bit more than usual as the tissue knit together. "What's wrong with him?" Kushina asked.

"Oh, Neji just cut his hand on a knife today," her husband replied, with uncharacteristic cheerfulness. "He wanted to help cook in the kitchen, it seems." He laughed.

Kushina managed a laugh as well, though she was very confused. "I didn't know you had any other kids, Himawari-sensei," she said.

"Oh, no, this is my nephew," Himawari said, finally raising her head and looking in the general direction of Kushina's voice. "He's Hizashi's son."

Kushina's eyes quickly darted between the boy and the man whom she now assumed was his father. "So, this isn't your husband?" she said.

"Heavens no. Himawari-san is my sister-in-law," the man replied. "Hiashi is my brother. We're twins." He spoke quickly and to the point, and there was a sort of haste behind the words that struck Kushina as odd, as if his family wasn't anything he wanted to discuss anytime soon. Though, she supposed that she understood. Families, on a whole, were weird.

"I see," she said.

"Owch," said his son, slowly, and with a stern and almost professional disapproval. The healing chakra slowly faded from Himawari's hands.

"There there, Neji, you're all done," said Himawari. "You don't need to worry about him scarring, Hizashi-san. He'll be fine."

"That's a relief. Thank you, Himawari-san, I really owe you one for seeing him on such short notice," Hizashi replied, scooping up his son (who was still as unamused as ever).

"It was no trouble," Himawari replied. "Say hello to your wife for me, if you would please."

"Of course," Hizashi said. "Goodbye!" He nodded at Kushina good-naturedly as he left, and there was silence for a short while.

"Well, aren't we going to get started?" said Himawari with a smile. "On the cot, now."

"Oh, yeah, sure," said Kushina, and sat. She kicked her legs a little, bouncing against Himawari's legs.

"My, you certainly seem to be in a good mood," said Himawari, shifting to prevent from being kicked again.

"Am I? I don't think so..." Kushina said. "Well, not particularly, anyways."

"Is that so?" said Himawari. She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, shifting into a more serious mood as she went over the more medical questions in her mind. Basic things.

The baby kicking much? Oh yes. Fatigued? A little. And her moods? Eh, not much to comment on.

Himawari raised an eyebrow. "Really, I mean it," Kushina said, meaning it. She continued.

Cramping? Not much. Complexion? Never better, funnily enough. Any questions regarding weight gain? Gaining too much, too little?

"Are you kidding?" Kushina said.

"Just going through the normal questions, Kushina-san," said Himawari, her eyebrows rising.

"'sboring."

"Ah, but what can you do?" said Himawari, resuming her normal, sunny personality. "On your back."

"Awesome," said Kushina, laying down. And Himawari smiled. This was her favorite part.

The internal examination was like a special privilege to her and her only, her little window into the watery world of the baby that the mother only had a glimpse of through kicking and squirms. A blue-silver-tinted world much more vivid than the muted grays of the vibrations felt through her hands, her limbs.

Her hands glowed with chakra as Kushina, already knowing the drill and lifting her shirt, exposed her stomach. Himawari entered the silver-blue world.

_Hello, there,_ she thought, as the image of a crouched baby-form filled her mind. "Ah, look at him! Perfectly on-schedule. Just the right size for 29 weeks. Almost ten more to go."

"Ten weeks, huh," said Kushina. "That's, like, two months, right?"

"A little more than that." Himawari watched the baby suck on his thumb. "Exciting, isn't it?"

"Yeah," said Kushina. A smirk crossed her face. "Yeah, it kinda is. Say," she added. "how long until that kid of yours is born?"

"Oh!" Himawari took her hands off Kushina's stomach, her mind filling with darkness and muted grays again. "Oh, five months, five months at the least," she replied.

"Huh, wow, that's a long while to wait," said Kushina.

"It was only about three months ago for you, Kushina-san."

"Yeah, true," said Kushina. "That was about the time I first came in to see you, right?"

"That's right," Himawari said, smiling, recalling the memory. Minato had been with her that day, and she couldn't recall him ever sounding so happy.

"Cool," said Kushina. "So, yeah. Is the baby looking all okay?"

"Perfectly normal," said Himawari.

"So I can go now, right?"

"No reason you can't. Unless you'd like to stay a bit longer," she added, laughing a little, "you know, talk to me a little?"

Kushina shrugged, and though Himawari couldn't see, she could guess by the rustling of the fabric. "I dunno, I might wanna go home or to the library or listen to the radio. Not much else to do today."

"Suit yourself," said Himawari. "I'll see you on Sunday for the Mommy Class."

Kushina smiled. "Yeah, isn't Mikoto bringing in that new baby of hers? Sasuke? She had him like two days ago, you know."

" I know," said Himawari. She had held Sasuke just the day before, as quiet and unassuming as he was before he was born. A very sweet, delicate child. "I can't wait to see him again."

"Yeah, only you can't _really_ see," Kushina added with a bit of a laugh, "right?"

"That's true," Himawari said, smiling good-naturedly, not feeling so much as a sting of resentment. At 28, she had long grown out of the adolescent depression and insecurity that came with her disability. Though, these days, she viewed it more as a blessing. She had Minato to thank for that.

"Doesn't mean you can't, like, see with your hands, though, right?" Kushina added, snapping Himawari out of her thoughts. "You know, like you do with my stomach and all that?"

Her smile shifted from that of usual good-naturedness to thoughtfulness. "You have a point there," she said, with an almost inspirational air in her words.

"Yeah, 'guess I do," Kushina said. There was a grin in her tone. "Okay, so, I'm heading out. Thanks a bunch! See you on Sunday or whatever."

"See you soon," Himawari said. Kushina's footsteps vibrated across the floor, and there was the slide of a screen door.

Himawari was left alone.

There was a pleasant stillness in the air, and Himawari smiled.

Her hands glowed blue as she sent chakra to the tips, the palms, and she slid them under her shirt, onto the gentle bulge that was her future child.

In the silver-blue of her mind, Himawari was alone again; but this time, she was with her daughter. The tiny, delicate, slowly-growing creation that was entirely hers. A daughter who, some predicted, gravely, would never be able to see, like her mother.

Himawari didn't care, though. She was happy.

The sliding door opened, and she quickly took her hands off of her stomach. "Yes?"

"I'm terribly sorry, Himawari-sensei, but are you busy at all?" It was Nishibi.

"No, no, not at all," Himawari replied. "I just finished with Kushina."

"I know, I know," Nishibi said, matter-of-factly. "We have a walk-in, then, if you're up to it."

"Who is it?"

"Natsume Uchiha, she'd like to see you."

An Uchiha? "Bring her in, please," said Himawari.

And Natsume was brought in, disgruntled and moody.

She left the office in tears. It was one of the most depressing things Himawari had ever witnessed.

-///-

Kushina, outside the office and several minutes in the past, was having an entirely different experience altogether.

Minato was waiting for her outside of the office. "Good morning," he said sunnily.

"Same to you," she replied, suspiciously. "You're out awfully early."

"Worked all day yesterday," he replied, coming towards her, "and I got to get to bed early. Plus, I knew you had an appointment today."

"And who told you that?" said Kushina. She folded her arms, trying not to smile. "It was Himawari-sensei, wasn't it?"

"I confirm and deny nothing." Minato grinned.

"You're terrible," Kushina said, rolling her eyes, and turning her back so he couldn't see her, grinning as well.

"Am I really?" he replied. She didn't do anything, beginning to walk away. "Wait! Kushina-san, come with me. I've got something to show you."

She looked over her shoulder. "Show me?"

"Yeah, just come with me," he added, extending his hand with a winning smile. "It'll be worth your while."

"Will it, now."

His head tilted to the side, his glass-blue eyes bright. "Trust me."

"Well..." She sighed. "I guess. I've got nothing else to do."

"Great! Come on." He extended the crook of his arm as Kushina walked towards him again.

"No hand-holding, thank you very much," she said. She, instead, put her hand on his shoulder. "What, do you think we're going out or something? In your dreams."

Minato just laughed and smiled, which annoyed and amused her as it always did.

Together, they walked down the road.

-///-

Kushina had been in the Hokage Mansion at least a few times before. Usually, it was either to bother Minato, or to eat dinner at his house.

Never before, however, had she been any further than his living room, his kitchen. He was taking her down a hallway, and her eyebrows alternated higher and lower in confusion the further they went. "What are you up to, anyways?" she said.

"You'll see," he said.

"You're going to have to tell me something soon, you know."

"Ah, but it wouldn't be a surprise, then, wouldn't it?"

"Ass." But Kushina was smirking quite beyond her control.

He stopped in front of a door. "Here we are," he said.

"This your bedroom or something?" said Kushina. She rolled her eyes before he could answer. "Look, if you think that just because I'm having your kid I'll sleep with you again, you're _sorely_ mistaken. I mean, just _lo-_"

"No, no, no," Minato said, each no shooting faster from his mouth. "It's not my bedroom."

"Oh, right," said Kushina.

"My bedroom's further down the hall, anyways."

Kushina peered at him with what was, undeniably, murderous intent.

"Kidding, I'm just kidding." He stepped aside, as if presenting the door to her. "Well, aren't you going to open it?"

She glanced at him with suspicious eyes. Her hand reached for the knob, and she turned it, opening the door. "I'd better like what-"

The room practically glowed with butter-yellow walls.

"...I see."

It was a nursery. A beautiful, almost complete, semi-furnished nursery.

There was a large window, with a white windowseat. White curtains. There was a white crib in the corner, and a chest of drawers. A white bookshelf full of brightly-colored books.

And the walls were yellow. A warm, pale, utterly Minato yellow.

Kushina was speechless.

"Do you like what you see?" he asked, gently.

She didn't say anything.

"I just barely finished painting it yesterday," he continued, tilting his head as he admired his handiwork. "I didn't put too much of a coat on it, though, because I wanted to know what color you wanted. I figured yellow was pretty light," he added, "you can paint over it and nobody will notice."

She still remained silent.

"Gotta say, I really owe it to my secretary," he said. "She's been doing a lot of my paperwork for me so I can work on this."

"You did this all by yourself," Kushina said, flatly, neither joyful nor angry.

"For the most part, yes," said Minato. "Did I do a good job?"

She didn't say anything.

"Kushina-san, really, I need feedback," he said, his face falling just a little. "I mean, it's for our son, so you've got to have a say of cour-"

"Why is it yellow," she said, with that same flat tone.

"Excuse me?"

"Yellow. It's so... ick," she continued, waving her hands for embellishment. "It looks like piss."

"Does it, now," Minato said, holding back a snort.

"Yeah. And it's so pale! I mean... come on! Could you have chosen a less... wimpy shade?" she continued, beginning to walk around the nursery, inspecting each tiny detail. "I mean, I can understand the white. The white... it's nice, it really is. But... did it have to be yellow?"

Minato was grinning. "I told you, it's easier to paint over," he said.

"Then paint over it! With a better color," Kushina commanded, cheerfully angry, her lethargic mood of the morning completely gone.

"What kind of color?"

"Not a pale one."

"But aren't those usually used in nurseries?"

Kushina rolled her eyes, crossed her arms, and glanced at him. "Yeah, but it's so... wimpy. It's so stupid! Babies can take bright colors."

"Did Himawari-chan tell you that?" said Minato, smirking.

"Yep." Himawari had said nothing of the sort, but if there was anything to say about Kushina, it was that she did everything with conviction, including lying.

"Interesting," said Minato. "All right, any other ideas for colors?"

"Not pink," Kushina said, pointedly.

"Why would I choose pink?"

"You never know," she replied quickly. "And not blue, either."

"Why not blue?"

"It's too depressing."

"I see, I see," Minato said, making a mental checklist. "Orange, then?" he asked, teasingly.

"Are you stupid or something?" Kushina said, waving her hands around. "It'd make the kid blind! No way I'd let his room be orange."

"All right, all right," said Minato. "No orange, no orange. Any other ideas, then?"

Kushina thought. The leaves rustled.

"Green," she decided.

"Green?"

"Yeah, green. A nice, good green," she said. "Nothing pale, nothing of that... stupid bright stuff. Just green." She nodded, imagining walls of a rich leaf green where there currently were yellow, highlighted by the whiteness of everything else, and the blue sky, and the green leaves outside. "Yep, green."

"I think I like that," said Minato, nodding as he imagined the same thing.

"'course," said Kushina. "So, you gonna paint it or what?"

"I'll get to it right away," Minato said. "If I'm not busy first, that is."

Kushina laughed. "If you can get this much done on your own, then you can't be all that busy."

"Oh, you'd be surprised," said Minato.

"Yeah, yeah. I know, I know," Kushina said sarcastically. "You're the Hokage and all that."

"Oh yes."

"Oh, whatever," Kushina said. She began to leave. "Paint it soon, okay? And let me know when it's done."

"Of course." Minato beamed, standing in the middle of the nursery, imagining the work in store.

Kushina's head popped into the door frame, after a second of intense thought. "You know, you're really sweet. You know that?" she said. "It's one hell of a room."

Minato's face was blank, then inexpressibly happy. One could practically feel the appreciation radiating from his face. "What can I say? Only the best. You'd kill me if I didn't, anyways." He laughed. "Besides, I owe you."

She leaned further into the frame, interested. "Owe me?"

"For giving me so much," he said. "You've given me a son, Kushina, I don't think I could ever repay you for that."

There was a ghost of a smile on her face. "Sentimental idiot, whatever," she said, but as she left, she smiled.

He smiled back, almost lovingly, and thought with anticipation of the work that had yet to be done.

And she entertained the notion, as she walked home, of what it would be like to be married to such and utterly pathetic, strange, and wonderful man.

It wasn't too bad of a notion.


	16. Green and Red

A/N: Sorry this took so long to post!

I've been busy with work and uninspiration lately, but don't fear. I'm excited for the upcoming chapters, so that'll probably mean they'll be up sooner. Hopefully.

Thank you, all of you, for helping me break my record of 397 reviews. This really is a dream come true! I love you all.

Only notes for this chapter:  
- Reika is a term used in Japanese to describe sub-zero temperatures. Kinda matches Arare's "little hail" name, if you think about it. (wink wink)

I'm so nervous, what with the end of this chapter, but I hope the pacing was all right.  
As usual, if you liked it, please review. Thanks!  
- Rii

-///-

Two women sat outside of Minato Namikaze's office on the first Saturday of August, both of them impatient, ever-so-slightly annoyed, and wiggling at least one of their legs.

One of them, of course, was Kushina Uzumaki.

The other was his secretary, a normally mild-mannered woman who was, that morning, tapping her nails against her desk and sighing, on average, four times a minute.

The only reason Kushina knew this was because she was counting. One, ten, twenty-five seconds. A long and lengthy sigh. One, fifteen, twenty, twenty-three. Siiiiiiiigh. One, five, twelve-

"Are you gonna stop doing that anytime soon?" Kushina snapped, after sighing herself.

One particularly tired and scathing glance later, the secretary said, "Can I help that I'm more impatient than you?"

"Well, yeah, you don't hear me sighing all over the place," Kushina replied.

The secretary shifted her folded leg from one thigh to the next and leaned forward on her desk. "You're not the one doing hours of paperwork, sweetheart," she replied.

"Don't see you doing any paperwork right now. And why are you being so bitchy?" Kushina eyed the woman, who sighed once more.

"Bitchy? Sorry." She leaned back, tilting her head and actually sounding passably sincere. "I've been busy lately."

"Well, how so?" Kushina said, shifting in her seat as well. "This non-existent paperwork?"

"More than that," said the secretary. "I know who you are. Kushina, right?" Kushina nodded. "Yeah, you're the one who's kept me preoccupied for the last few weeks."

"Eh?"

"Oh, stop it," said the secretary. She looked at the ceiling, leaning back even further in her chair. "You know why this is all going on."

"Uh... no," Kushina replied, "I don't. Mind filling me in, seeing that Namikaze won't be showing up for a while yet? We got some time to kill."

"Heh, ain't that the truth," the secretary replied, before furrowing her brow in slight confusion. "Well, come on, you've got to know about that nursery project the boss's been working on lately."

"Oh yeah; it's why he asked me to come over today. Said it was-" Kushina began.

"Done? Yeah, yeah, I know _all_ about that," the secretary sighed.

"Oh," said Kushina.

"Really, how could I not?" she continued, folding her arms and rotating a little on the swivel chair. "He's been out there for three, four hours every day, leaving me with all the real work. You wouldn't believe how much trouble it's caused me."

"It has?" said Kushina.

"Oh yeah. It has," said the secretary. "Believe me."

"Never said I didn't, jeeze," Kushina replied. "Sounds like you need a break."

"If that isn't the understatement of the year," said the secretary, sighing and leaning in her chair. "Now that he's done, I might get one. Then again," she said, "I'm just a nameless, faceless little secretary to him." She sighed. "Whatever."

Kushina squinted. "Well, you can't really be," she said. "Come to think of it..." She leaned forward a little, or at least, as much as her belly and seat would allow. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"Hm? Me?" The secretary shrugged. "I dunno. I've seen you around here so much recently that I can't quite recall if I've seen _you_ before anywhere."

"Hm..." Kushina leaned back again. "Maybe it's the same with me, then."

"Who knows."

The women both sighed, and there was a warm and very boring silence.

Minato entered with a much-needed burst of enthusiasm. "Hey, is she-"

"Here? Yep," the secretary without a name replied.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Minato said, offering a hand. "Important Hokage business."

"Yeah, I'm sure," Kushina grunted, getting up. "So what did you want to see me about, anyways?"

"A surprise," Minato beamed.

"Let me guess: that nursery?"

His face dropped, just a little. "I won't say."

"Yeah you will. C'mon, just bring me there already," Kushina said, as the two of them left.

"Have fun, you two," the secretary said, with utmost unenthusiasm, sighing once more and looking in her desk for something to do. At least she didn't have any paperwork.

Her day got suddenly worse when, about ten minutes later, her little brother arrived, likely seeking a favor. "And what do you want this time, Arare? The Hokage just left," she said, looking over the top of her magazine with a less-than-approving glance.

Arare's face fell. "He did? Where? I had something important to tell him..."

"He went with Kushina. You know, the red-head." She returned to her magazine. "Isn't she your teammate or something?"

"Yeah, but... that's not important! Though... gah, just tell me where he is! But it can't be with her," Arare said, practically on his toes with impatience.

Reika, his older sister by four years, jounin extraordinare, secretary and bodyguard to the Hokage, now currently a henpecked dealer of many favors, put down the magazine. "Elaborate."

-///-

"Not too bad," Kushina said, looking over the rich green walls. "It's a lot nicer than I imagined."

"Thanks."

Her eyes passed, with extreme care, over every detail in the finished nursery, though her mind was elsewhere. Where, exactly, it was, however, she couldn't really say. "How long'd it take you to do this?" she asked.

"How long's it been since the walls were yellow?" he replied.

Kushina thought. "'bout two weeks?"

"Mhm."

"I see." Her mind drifted to the secretary, stuck doing the Hokage's work while he was busy doing sissy (but really sweet) nursery-work. "You ougtta give your secretary a break or a raise or something," she said, looking out the window.

"Hm?"

"Nevermind. Man, you made me wait all this time for this?" She glanced at him, crossly, from her spot. "A little bit less than what I was expecting. Still," she continued, giving a smirkish smile, "it's really nice. I mean, really."

"Well, thanks," Minato said, utterly distracted by something, but still managing a bit of a smile.

Kushina was onto him immediately. "What, you got something else you'd like to say?" She crossed her arms.

"No, no, nothing at all," he replied, obviously lying.

"Okay. Well, thanks for showing me this," Kushina said, showing herself out. It was seconds before Minato's hand was on her shoulder, stopping her. "What is it?"

"Erm... well..." The hand retreated. "Sorry. Forgot what I was going to say." He smiled, sheepishly.

"What an idiot," Kushina said, playfully, with just the smallest note of fondness, before heading on her way.

He called her ten minutes later, just barely after she got home. Too tired to care, she let the answering machine get it as she flopped on the couch.

"Hey! You've reached Kushina Uzumaki's answering machine, home to the best damn kunoichi in Konoha! Hell, probably the whole world! Or something. Anyways, leave a message at the beep if it's important. If it isn't, then buzz off, moron."

"Kushina-san! Gosh, I'm so sorry, I don't know where my mind is. Must be the paint fumes, hehe."

"We-eak," Kushina said to the answering machine, though she was smiling, her voice floating over the side of the couch.

"I remembered what I was going to ask you, back in the nursery. I got, uh, reservations for dinner tonight, and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me."

Kushina, had her belly not been in the way, would have sat up immediately, startled. Instead, she began to frantically clamber off the couch.

"If you're interested, please, uh, call me back when you get home, since I'm guessing you're not-"

"Hold your horses, I'm here," she said, panting, the phone in her hand. "What kinda dinner are you talking about?"

"Ah, Kushina-san," Minato replied, his voice tinny through the receiver but still audibly delighted. "You're here."

"Yeah, I'm here, now answer my question," Kushina said, frowning a little. Free food, regardless of the situation, was always a good idea, in her opinion—even if it sounded like a date.

"Ah, well, I got reservations at a restaurant-"

"You said that already."

"Let me continue, please." His voice was measured and even.

"Sure, sure."

"I have reservations tonight at eight, so if you're interested in coming with me, then I'll come pick you up around, oh, 7:30,7:45?"

"Depends on the restaurant," Kushina lied. Food was food was food, after all.

"The Red Kitsune. You ever been there?"

Kushina's jaw, literally, dropped open. "Get outta here! The Red Kitsune?" It was only the most expensive restaurant in town.

"The one and only," Minato's voice said, almost boastfully.

Suspicion entered Kushina's mind swiftly, and her jaw just as swiftly un-dropped itself. "And just why, exactly, are you asking me to come with you on this fancy-pants dinner?" she said.

"Well... I thought it would be something nice to do," he replied. She could practically hear him smiling.

"I'm not going on any dates," Kushina replied. "Absolutely none."

"Did I ever say it was a date? I just asked if you'd like to come with me."

It was true, he had never mentioned it being a date. Kushina frowned a little. "That may be so," she said, putting on her best stern voice. "If it's not a date, though, I have to pay for my own food. Right?"

"Not necessarily," Minato said quickly, rushing to his next, more exciting sentence. "But it means you'd like to go?"

"Hell yeah! Like I'd pass up an opportunity for a meal at the Red Kitsune," Kushina said, grinning. "What time did you say you'd come by for me?"

"Well, we have to get there by eight, so 7:50 at the latest."

"Awesome. Just come on by anytime, I'll be waiting." She leaned back a little, content, happy, even almost excited.

"Great! I'll see you then. Can't wait," Minato said.

"Yeah, yeah, sure. See you then," Kushina said, and hung up.

There was a wonderful silence, both mental and audible, before Kushina fully realized that she was going on a not-date with the Hokage, and at the Red Kitsune, no less. And she laughed.

A half a year before, she never would have dreamed of something like that.

Nor, a half a year before, would she have even appreciated it at all.

-///-

"You look really pretty tonight," Minato told her, at the restaurant.

"Oh, shut up." Despite herself, she was smiling, just a little.

He smiled back. "No, really. I like what you did with your hair. You should braid it more often."

Kushina pushed the braid off of her shoulder and behind her, obscuring it from view. "It's nothing."

"I'm sure."

She straightened her mouth, staring him down, after a good while of silence had passed with nothing but him politely taking a sip of his water happening. "So, since this isn't a date, or anything... what do we do?"

"I suppose we talk," Minato said. "You wouldn't mind that too much, would you?"

"Well, no, not really," Kushina said. She picked an ice cube out of her water and turned it around with her fingers, feeling the wet coldness. "Dunno what to talk about, really."

"Ah, I see. Well, I suppose I can think of something," Minato said. He smiled.

"Sure, go ahead." She put the ice cube back in the glass, it being a bit too cold for her liking.

"Hm, let's see. I decided to give my secretary a small vacation," he said.

Kushina's ears perked up significantly. He had been listening to her? "Really?" she said. "Sure she appreciates it."

"Oh, you should have seen the look on her face." Minato's eyes darted sideways, shining with an almost adolescent glee. "Looked like someone had poured a bucket of ice down her shirt."

Kushina imagined the woman, with her plain face and bored expression, and she imagined herself with a bucket of ice. She poured it over the woman's head, and imagined the results with satisfaction. She smirked. "Heh, I'm sure it was pretty funny."

"Mhm. She deserved it, I've been overtaxing her a bit too much, I think," he said. "I'll be able to actually do my job, now that the nursery's done."

"It's a really nice nursery," Kushina said, needlessly, not wanting to stay silent and seem angry, or anything.

"Thanks." Minato beamed.

"No need to thank me, you did all the work," she replied. "And besides, you're the one that's gonna be using it. You and the baby, I mean."

"That's true. But at least you like it too, so you can enjoy it when you come by and visit," he said. "The rocking chair I had put in is really comfortable, I think you'd like it."

"I'll have to sit in it sometime," she said. She glanced upward, not sure what else to say. "I'm sure it's nice."

The waiter came by and took their orders, and left them with nothing but the sounds of clinking glass and conversation. The air was stiff and uncomfortable.

Minato cleared his throat. "I hope you like the food, I hear it's second to none."

"Mm."

There was silence again, and Minato shifted a little uncomfortably. "What, can't think of anything else to say?" Kushina said, noticing.

"Erm, it's not that," he said.

Her eyes narrowed. "Then what is it?" she said, almost dangerously.

"I... have something I'd like to tell you," he said.

She sighed. "Oh, so you take me to a big fancy restaurant so I won't raise a fuss, huh?" She leaned forward, her elbow on the table, her face nothing but serious. "Very clever of you, but it doesn't mean I won't raise a stink if I want to."

Minato grimaced, just slightly; then, he managed to smile. "I thought you'd say something like that," he said. She did not reply, her face unchanging. "Well... do you remember New Year's Eve?"

She laughed a single laugh. "How could I not? It's how I got in this whole mess," she said. "Besides, there were goddamn fireworks outside the window," she added, quietly.

"Mm?" said Minato.

"Nothing, nothing, go on," she said, trying not to smile, and succeeding to a minor extent.

"It's kinda funny, I remember you asking me something really weird after we... you know..." His voice trailed.

"Asked you what?" she said. She suddenly remembered. Her face transitioned, quickly, from curiosity to reluctant remembrance. "Oh. The, uh. Virgin thing, right?"

"If my memory doesn't fail me," he said, smiling, with only the slightest hint of embarrassment.

She smiled, with quite a lot of embarrassment, back. _Please don't ask why, please don't ask why, please don't ask why..._ she thought, frantically. "So, yeah, uh. Why do you ask?" she said, trying to sound as uninterested as possible.

"Well..." He drew out the word, and she nearly thumped the table, to yell at him to get on with it. "The thing is... I sorta... lied."

"...lied?"

"I'm... not really a virgin."

Kushina just stared. "...what do you mean?" she managed to say.

"You're not the first woman I've ever slept with."

"...and just what the hell is that supposed to mean?!" she said, her voice rising slightly, but not enough to be heard by everyone else in the restaurant. "Why are you telling me this?"

"I... thought it'd be romantic! I mean, since you went through so much trouble that night to just get into bed with me, and from what I heard from sensei and the kids, I-"

"Romantic?!" Kushina interrupted. "How is sleeping with a virgin _guy_ romantic? I mean... they don't know what the hell they're doing! You ever tried sleeping with a guy who doesn't know how to fuck properly?" She didn't allow him to continue. "It's downright embarrassing!"

"You thought I was one, though, didn't you?" Minato replied, once she was finished, and she pinched her face up as she thought this over and realized he was right.

"Well, I suppose there are exceptions," she admitted. She thought for a moment. "_Supposed._ Or something. And besides," she added, "I'm not one to judge."

"I see," said Minato. "Erm, would you... let me continue?"

"By all means," she replied flatly.

He cleared his throat, slightly, and looked at her in an almost helpless way. "I thought it would be romantic for you. You know, something significant. Special?"

"...um, no?" Kushina said. "I don't care if it is... _was_... _your_ first time or not." She folded her arms. "I could care less."

"Ah... I see," said Minato.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. "...just who exactly have you slept with, before me?" she said, almost angrily—though, in reality, her expression would be best described as a twisted and deformed cousin of jealousy and suspicion.

"Just... a few people," Minato said, his face turning faintly pink in the lamp-light. "And nobody since you, nobody at all. You're the first woman I've ever really slept with, Kushina."

"And just what is that supposed to..." She paused, and thought for a moment. She reached a rather horrifying conclusion. "You mean you sleep with teenagers?!" Kushina grimaced. "Kids?! You sick fuck!"

"No, no! I don't mean it that way!" Minato said, waving his hands slightly.

"...waitaminute, you're _gay_, aren't you! You sleep with men!!" Kushina groaned, raising her head and pushing her bangs through her fingers. "Oh, _now_ I know what you mean...! Oh my _god_, I'm having a gay man's kid!"

"Kushina-san! No! I'm not... I'm not gay!" Minato replied, frantically, confused as to whether he should laugh or scream. Regardless, he had to get Kushina to quiet down, because a few people were beginning to stare. The last thing he wanted was for her to raise a fuss. No, not now.

"Then tell me what the hell you're talking about," she said, practically growling.

"I've only slept with women. That's the truth," he said, after taking a deep breath and swallowing.

"And just who, exactly...?"

"...Kushina-san, it's really not all that polite to kiss and tell."

"So? I still wanna know," she said, her arms crossed, her face Meaning Business.

"Another time," Minato said, patiently. Kushina scowled. "Kushina-san, please, not now."

He was practically pleading with her. "Fine, but you had better tell me someday," she said. She almost felt bad for him, but she was still angry. Just a little.

Against all odds, he smiled. Just a little. "I suppose there'll be time for that," he said.

"Sure. So, I'm the first 'real woman' you've ever slept with, huh?" He nodded. "Does that mean all your ex-girlfriends are sluts, then?"

"Not... no. No, they're not," he said, nodding, looking almost a little stern. "They were all nice people. But... compared to you, they're just not the same."

He took a deep breath in, and swallowed again, staring at the table. "None of them made me feel the way I feel with you, Kushina-san. You're... unique. You make me laugh. You push me back in line when I'm not being myself. Just thinking about you... I just can't help but smile." He smiled, warmly, happily, uncontrollably. "I've never met anyone quite like you. I don't think... I ever will."

She was silent.

He looked up at her, with his blue eyes fixed into hers. "I love you, you know. I really honestly do."

She was silent.

Minato sat there, with his naked words, not a Hokage, nor a ninja of any rank, but a man with a woman in front of him he thought he would never be able to attain. And so far, it looked like she was still unattainable.

She spoke.

"You're not just kidding with me, are you?" she said.

He smiled. "Nope, not kidding." He managed to sound cheerful, despite the fact that he was nervous as hell.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

She thought this over for a long time, frowning, looking at her feet. "...I still think you're an asshole," she mumbled in reply. He couldn't tell if she was blushing or not.

Still, he smiled. He grinned. He laughed. Typical, wonderful Kushina. "I know you do. That's why I love you, you're so funny."

She laughed a single laugh, in reply. "Heh! Man, you're so weird. Still, I always had a feeling."

"A feeling?"

Kushina smiled, a smile that wrinkled her eyes and her nose, fox-like. "Mhm. I mean, you act like such an idiot around me, the only reason's gotta be love, or something," she laughed. "Otherwise, we'd have that Orochimaru guy as Hokage instead of you, right?"

Minato laughed, relieved enormously. "I guess so! So... do you love me too?"

The words slipped out of his mouth much beyond his control, and she stared at him like he had just slapped her across the face. "...excuse me?"

" Oh, well..." _Dammit, Minato!_ he thought, trying not to grimace. "I'm probably coming off as some sort of freak right now, and you don't really need that."

"You're freaky enough by yourself, as it is," she replied, smirking, although it was only a half-smirk, a smirk that shoddily concealed a look of shock, or was it disgust? "Go on. Why?"

"Well... it's because... I've been thinking it over a lot," Minato said, carefully, trying not to fumble over his words, "and I thought... Well, maybe it wouldn't be so bad if you and I got married."

"...married?"

"Yes. For... various reasons, and... I..." He bit his lip, trying to regain his spirit. It was Do or Die, at this point, and there was no way in hell he was going to back away from his words. "I suppose... this is a bit of a proposal, then," he said. He smiled, he sighed, and he said, "Kushina Uzumaki, will you marry me?"

At first, she looked as confused as ever. But then, she smiled.

She smiled back at him with a warm, genuine smile, and did not speak for a good long time.

Finally, she opened her mouth.

And she said, "Absolutely not, Minato Namikaze."


	17. Acceptance

A/N: Ho-lee snarks, you guys. I've gotten just about 50 reviews for the previous chapter alone. Quite something!

Thank you all for your support and reviews. I've little to say for this chapter, other than that... here it is.

Read and review, if you liked, as usual!  
- Rii

-/-

Arare, Sazanka and Hyou almost never ate meals together. True, when Arare and Hyou were younger, their sensei would take them and Kushina out for congratulatory meals after the odd successful mission, but that was about it. None of them felt that post-mission drinks counted, either.

And yet, they sat together at a booth in the Red Kitsune, each with a pair of binoculars on their hands. Though, they all supposed this didn't count, either: they weren't there to eat, after all.

They had a most unofficial spying mission on their hands.

"What're they saying?" Sazanka whispered, needlessly; Kushina and the Hokage were well at the other side of the restaurant, and their voices were masked by the chatter in the rest of the establishment, regardless.

Hyou squinted. "They're not saying anything," he reported.

"Are you sure? Arare, tell me what's going on."

"I can't see anything either," Arare said, taking off the binoculars and rubbing his eyes. "These things don't exactly work with or without my glasses…"

Sazanka gave a deep and well-practiced sigh, rolling her eyes and looking through her own binoculars.

Minato and Kushina really _weren't_ doing anything, just staring at each other with strange expressions on their faces. She seemed to be smiling, if anything, while Minato's face was best described as blank.

"What are they doing…?" Sazanka wondered to herself, almost nervously, as she watched on.

The first one to speak was Minato.

"…what do you mean?" he said.

Kushina's face developed a small frown. "Well, come on. Use your brain," she said. "I mean, a proposal? Are you kidding me?"

He looked hurt. "No, I wasn't really kidding…"

Kushina sighed, feeling just a little sympathetic. "Okay, so I know you'd never do this as a joke. But honestly, you should _know_ better."

"Know better…?"

"Well, tell me why you wanted to propose to me in the first place."

"But what does that-"

"Just tell me, okay?" Her face meant business. "I'll get to it."

He sighed; Kushina usually _did_ know what she was talking about, and he wouldn't dream of arguing with her when her face was like that. He took a deep breath. "I proposed because I... love you," he said, forcing the words past his lips, a cold feeling in his stomach telling him this wasn't what Kushina wanted to hear.

It wasn't what she wanted to hear. "Nope," she said. "That's not a good enough answer."

"But... isn't that why people usually propose?" he said, almost helplessly. Kushina thought for a while.

"Mhm," she nodded. "Though," she added, glancing at him, "there's usually more to it, and even then, it's usually a mutual feeling."

"Mutual...? I don't-" Minato said. Then, he understood. "...oh." What little light and confidence he had left in his eyes vanished. "Oh. I'm..." But he simply couldn't find the words, and sat in defeated silence for a good while.

It was enough to make even Kushina worry (while the unofficial spying team from the other side of the room was scared out of their wits, thinking that the Hokage had died and was still sitting up). "...hey, you okay over there?" she said quietly, her eyes softening, just a little.

"It's... nothing. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have put you in this situation," he said, his head lowered. He stood. "I'll go tell the host to cancel my order, I don't think I'll be eating tonight."

He began to leave.

Kushina, in shock, didn't even realize what had just happened until a moment later. By the time she had gotten out of her chair to follow after him, he had already left the restaurant and was walking out into the streets, illuminated a dull gold by the evening lanterns.

It was hard to keep up with him. Kushina's eyes were focused solely at his mop of yellow hair, that dandelion yellow, muted by the evening and growing dimmer and dimmer the further he went. She called him by his first name, not even noticing she did so. "Hey!" she yelled, people watching as she went. "Hey, hold on a second! Minato! Come back... here! Come back!" 

He didn't come back, drifting further away, and further into Konoha. There were fewer lights on in the surrounding houses, and fewer people; the murkiness of the light led Kushina to admit that she was very lost. It made her angry. "Stop! C'mon... dammit!" She panted. "Stop!"

And, unexpectedly, he stopped. She caught up with him, and after her breath caught up with her, she spoke. "You didn't have to go running off like that, jeesh," she said, still panting a little. "Where _are_ we, anyways?"

Minato shrugged, and Kushina's eyes groped for some sort of image in the darkness. The sky was a dangerous shade of dark gray, making the light limited. She heard rushing water somewhere. 

"Are we on a bridge or something?" she said. Minato shrugged again, and she frowned, grabbing his collar. "There's no way in hell I'm letting you jump over, you know."

He didn't budge, just leaning over the wooden rail and staring at whatever was below.

Kushina, dissatisfied, yanked his collar and sent him to the ground; she sat beside him. "This is no time for just sitting around and sulking, you," she said. "And no running away, either!"

He didn't look at her. She didn't say anything, her thoughts churning in her mind.

She opened her mouth. "I... may not have said the right thing, back there. But you gotta talk to me." She frowned at him. "You can't just deal with this in silence and hope it'll all be okay tomorrow. Because it won't. Not unless you just stand up and deal with it. You know?"

He shrugged half-heartedly, and she pushed him a little. "Come on, just say something."

And he did say something, a good few seconds of thought later. "...I'm sorry."

"This is no time for apologizing to me," she replied.

Finally, he looked at her. "But you're the one who said-"

"I said a lot of stuff," she interrupted. "Right now, though, I want _you_ to talk." There was an air of slight impatience in her voice. "I'll sit here for days, y'know, if you won't. And I'll make you stay with me."

"No use arguing with that logic..." he said quietly, managing a very small smile.

"Yep. So go on. Talk. Just say something," Kushina urged. She nudged him again, when a few moments of silenced passed. "Go."

"Aren't we talking now?" 

"Not that kind of talking." Kushina crossed her arms, her legs spread wide over the empty bridge. "And I won't interrupt or anything. Go on. Why'd you propose to me? Tell me." He looked at her, with sad, kicked-puppy eyes. "Don't look at me like that!" She lightly punched him in the arm. "I won't say anything else. So go. Now." And she sealed her mouth with an imaginary zipper, crossing her arms again.

So, he opened his mouth, and he spoke.

"Well... in all honesty, I don't think it would be entirely false for me to say that... I just want a family for my son. A whole family. A father and a mother, not just one or the other. I mean, I grew up with my aunt, and she was wonderful, but I just couldn't help but feel that something was missing. I wished that I could have a dad to chuck kunai around in the backyard with, or race around the town, or go fishing, or... well, you know what I mean."

He looked at Kushina, expecting a reply; however, true to her word, her mouth stayed sealed. He continued. "So... I don't know if you can understand what I'm talking about, but really, that's... the thing I want most for him. So... it was selfish of me to do what I did today. I mean, I really do love you. I really do, but to make you... to _force_ you to make this family for him, because of this... ideal I have... It's really selfish of me. And I shouldn't have done it. God, I'm having a hard time even imagining that you'd forgive me, seeing that you don't really..."

He paused, lowering his head some. "You don't like me in the same way I do. And... I guess that's fine. I can't force you to love me; that would be terrible."

And he said no more.

"That's it?" Kushina said, after a while. He nodded, and she took a deep breath in. She exhaled.

"Wow. I never expected that of you, Namikaze," she said. And she smiled at him. "You're more honorable than I thought."

"Honorable?" He swore that his heart skipped a beat.

"I can kinda understand what you're talking about, really. I grew up without a mom, really, though I can't exactly say I really missed her," she replied, thoughtfully staring at her stomach. "Still, I had my grandma, and my dad, and my brother. I didn't really want for anyone else. So yeah, I guess I know what you're talking about."

She looked up, smiling again. "What, but you thought I wouldn't want to see my kid all the time? In your dreams!" Her smile slid into a grin. "I don't think that it's just enough to have it and then forget it. I'm kinda fond of the little guy, y'know."

Minato, while feeling a smile growing on his face, couldn't deny his worry, nor his confusion. "But what does that mean?" he said.

"It means," Kushina said, a laugh nearly entering her voice, "that if you think I'm just gonna give you the kid and leave you alone with him, you're totally wrong."

Minato was quiet, before frowning, his heart sinking. "So... you're going to raise him?"

"What, are you deaf or something?" Kushina said, pushing him, hard, on the shoulder again. "I said I wasn't going to let you raise him _alone_. Doesn't mean _I'm_ gonna raise him all by myself, that's just stupid."

Minato still had no idea what she was going on, and his face showed it. "It means, stupid, that I'm gonna be coming by a lot to make sure that he's okay n' stuff, you know?" Kushina continued. "Like, I dunno, to feed him and stuff. And when he's older, to go toss kunai around, like you said you wanted to do with your old man." She smiled. "A kid's gotta get to play with his old lady, right?"

Minato, finally, smiled back. "I think I get what you're saying," he said.

"Right," she said, and she laughed. "Great, we're in agreement."

"So... does this mean you'll want a room, then? We can have one arranged in the Hokage Manor if you want," Minato said. "You know, so you can be closer to the baby, sleep over some nights, if you want."

"Sleep over...?" Kushina said. She thought for a moment, imagining the alternative: sharing a bed with Minato. She turned away, just in case her face was turning red. "Eh. Doesn't sound too bad, but I don't want any extra trouble for you and the people in your house, you know?"

"Sure, sure," said Minato. "You probably don't want to share my bedroom, anyways."

She glared at him. "And just what makes you say that?" she said suspiciously, dearly hoping he hadn't suddenly developed mind-reading powers.

"Well, you said you didn't want to marry me," he said, his voice growing just barely softer. "I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

" Well... not… you don't make me... uncomfortable, really. I just don't want to share a... yeah," Kushina began, her shoulders rising. "I don't really know _what _to think of you, Namikaze. You're one confusing guy."

"Then what _do_ you think of me?" he asked.

And she thought.

She thought of his face, smiling at all hours of the day, so irrationally nice and calm. She thought of his unpredictability, running off on that awkward and unusual day of the first Mommy Class, of his nursery, his selfless offer to take the reins and raise the child they had accidentally made.

She thought of his voice, his eyes, his arrogant, confident, joyful grin.

She thought of him as a man. She thought of him as a Hokage. And she thought of a memory, faded with the years, of a cocky little boy with dandelion hair, who asked what her name was when she was a silent little girl with hair as violently red as blood.

By all means, he was a man who was born to infuriate her. The yin to her yang, the calm before her storm. He smiled when there was nothing to smile about, when she'd explode in profanities and anger. He grinned and bore it, she hissed and retorted. 

He was a bitter taste in her mouth, a relationship born of chance that would never have happened otherwise. A scab that would be flicked off when all was said and done, but a scab to be respected and remembered. He was the Hokage on a pedestal, the greatest of all, his face carved in stone. She was nothing more than a name in a crowd, a flash of red hair in a photograph.

She hated him, sometimes.

And yet.

And yet, there was a feeling beneath all that, a feeling that caused her to grin and laugh at anything at all at the mere mention of his name. Something that bubbled and swelled and stirred up beneath the bitter crust of Expectation, pressing hard, wishing desperately for freedom. 

It was a feeling she had no name for, a feeling that she was certain wasn't love.

Love was what she felt when she was 13 years old, getting a Valentine's chocolate from Akane Fuji, and seeing that he had written their names under an umbrella near the boy's bathroom. She went and kissed him, enthusiastically and with little regard for his consent, after school that day. The romance lasted a week at the most, and the umbrella that had caused it got erased even quicker than that.

Love was what she felt when she was 17 years old, lounging on the edge of the bed in a love hotel with Inoichi, peering at him with eyes that she saw women make in cheap magazines. He'd smile back and tell her he loved her too, but the intimacy would rarely last longer than a few hours at a time.

Love was something that was temporary and hot, that made her stomach flutter, that ended quickly and abruptly, with little fanfare and plenty of sour feelings.

No, this feeling was entirely different. It was happy, undeniably so, and yet confusingly blended with astonishment and disbelief, and skepticism. There was always some small shred of cynicism that this nameless emotion was as temporary as all the rest beneath the angry surface, that this unnatural contentment was a freak of chance, an opportunity that would stir once or twice and then be permanently silent.

But it didn't go away. It stirred, it swirled beneath the crust of Kushina's thoughts, eroding the anger and getting closer and closer to the surface.

And she still didn't know what it was.

"Taking your time, are we?" Minato said, a slightly playful tone in his voice. "Am I really that complicated, or are you just trying to make fun of me?"

She looked at him, and opened her mouth to speak, to say something sharp and witty in response, but no words came to her lips.

There he was, there was Minato. The source of all this strangeness, as real as he always was, smiling slightly, and yet still looking like there was some secret he was keeping from her.

The feeling swelled and broke, and it filled her from her toes to her stomach to her head.

So _this_ was love.

There came a terrible crack of thunder, barely preceded by a flash of lightning. The sound thumped in their chests.

"Shit! What the hell was that!" she yelled, her real self returning like a bucket of water dumped over her head. 

And, so much like that bucket of water, rain began to pour in torrents.

"Rain!" Minato yelled, needlessly. "Oh, man...!"

"Inside! Somewhere! Now!" Kushina yelled as well, struggling to get up and finding his hand in hers, pulling her to a standing position. A flash of lightning coursed through their surroundings, followed quickly by that thump of thunder, nearly rattling the windows.

"Here, follow me!" Minato tugged on her hand, yelling over the sound of the water everywhere. "We can get to the Manor if we take a shortcut!"

As they went, however, Kushina began to recognize her surroundings, and yanked her hand out of his. "Are you retarded! My apartment's like a block away from here! _You're_ following _me!_" And so, she began to march, thankful that her hair was in a braid, as her bangs were plastered to her face.

Minato followed obediently. Shelter was shelter, and as the thunder continued, he was more and more keen on getting someplace dry.

Proposals and feelings were decidedly the last thing on their minds.

Kushina fumbled with her room key and nearly fell once she got the door unlocked, Minato catching her and stumbling himself. "Idiot," she said, panting, gulping the astonishingly dry air. "God_damn! _What in the hell is that?"

"I believe," Minato said from the floor, as breathless as she, "it's a thunderstorm."

"I know it's a thunderstorm, stupid," Kushina said, and grimaced as the baby, who had been respectfully quiet most of the evening, less-than-gently nudged her in the gut. "Ow!"

"Something the matter? Did you hurt yourself?" Minato got up quickly, worry in his eyes.

"No, it's just... the baby. He's done this before." She groaned and flopped onto her couch, soaked clothes and all. "I think he's scared of thunder."

"Scared of... he can hear it?" Minato said.

A deep and drum-like clap of thunder rumbled its way through Konoha. "I'd think that even a stone could hear this sorta stuff," Kushina said, managing a smirk as the frantic flutterings nailed her in the ribs. "Calm _down_, will you? I've had _enough_ of this."

Minato pushed his wet hair away from his forehead and sat down on the couch beside her, listening to her talk to the baby. "It's just thunder, I told you this before," she continued, sternly. "It can't hurt you. Can't hurt me, either, but that's beside the point. You're okay. Just calm down a little."

"Is he really kicking that hard?" Minato asked, concernedly, feeling remarkably unhelpful to the entire situation.

"Feel for yourself," Kushina said, taking his hand and pressing it firmly on her stomach.

Minato felt. A tangle of elbows and knees and hands and feet met his touch, pulsing slightly beneath the skin and tumbling over and over again. "Woah."

"Exactly." She sat back and groaned. "Gonna just have to wait, I guess." She swore, very quietly, under her breath.

"Does he, uh... calm down when you talk to him?" Minato said.

"Sometimes. Eh. It varies," she said. "Man, I'm tired..."

"Can I try talking to him?"

She stared at him. "What, you want to?" She shrugged. "Sure."

So, he shifted himself and leaned in close, his hand still feeling the uneasy and frenzied kicks. And he began to talk.

He spoke almost nervously at first, not sure what to say. "Hey there," he said softly. "It's me, your dad. Are you scared of the thunder?" He felt, beneath his fingers, an agitated squirm. "Hey, it's okay. You should listen to your mom. It can't hurt you, little guy."

"I know what I'm talking about, y'know," Kushina added, attempting to mask the sentimental expression on her face with a rough tone. A rumble of thunder surged lowly through the air.

"He kicked," Minato said quietly, almost gasping.

"Y'think I don't know that?" Kushina replied, frowning. "Jeesh."

"Haha, I'm sorry," Minato said, though his voice was hushed, almost in awe. "Wow, so he's really scared of the thunder. I'm surprised he can even hear it."

"Oh, he can hear a lot. It's just muffled. Like… y'know when you're in the bath, and you dunk your head under the water? It's exactly like that," Kushina explained.

"Wow, you sure know a lot."

"Eh, it's just stuff Himawari-sensei tells me," she replied, casually.

They sat together on the couch in silence, Minato, not quite knowing the reason why, gently stroking the curve of her stomach, as if the baby beneath could be touched and soothed through it. And somehow, whether it was due to Minato or not, the baby finally quieted down.

"Y'know," Kushina said, after a while, "it was really stupid of you to propose today."

"Was it?" he said, his voice slightly ashamed. Neither of them really wished to bring up the disastrous event, not when the air was so calm, the rain falling outside.

"Yeah. I'm in no state to go off proposing to," she continued, not looking at him. "I mean, have you seen those wedding kimono? There's no way I'd be able to fit in one of those as I am now."

Minato got up, staring at her. "You mean… that's the only reason you said no?"

"Well… not… exactly, really, but… I can't fit in them. And there's a lot of other reasons too," she said, looking in a decidedly opposite direction. "Like, I'm busy these days."

"Are you, now."

"I am! And don't try denying it." He smiled. She noticed. "Quit grinning like that, you look like an idiot," she said, grinning like an idiot. 

"All right, all right… So… if I were to propose in the future… you'd say yes?" he said, his voice and his eyes brimming with hope and happiness.

"Depends on the situation, but… eh, I wouldn't really mind it. So I… guess," Kushina said, haltingly, though her face was turning red in the silvery light of the storm. "But don't you go proposing anytime soon, okay? I wanna be in charge of this whole thing."

"Oh, so you want to propose?" Minato started laughing.

"Damn right I do!" Kushina sat up, a fierce determination in her eyes. "I'll only get married when I'm ready, if at all. You got that? I decide when."

"Fair enough," he said, though his voice could hardly be discerned through his monstrous smile.

"Man, you're hopeless." Kushina sighed. "Just you wait. I'll pop the question on you when it's totally not convenient for you, and I'll even have a _ring_. _You_ didn't have a ring today."

"No, I sure didn't," he said, laughing. He leaned into her shoulder, sighing happily. "Whatever you say," he said. "I'll be ready."

She put her chin on his head, the smell of sweet wet hair in her nose. "Just try that. I'll get you, I swear."

And though she never said it out loud, Kushina admitted to herself that she was really in love, and that it wasn't so bad.

The best part was that Minato knew it, too.

He slept over that night, and, fortunately, he wasn't kicked out in the middle of the night, clothes or no clothes.


	18. The Hokage's Girlfriend

Author's Note --

To my wonderful readers,

I'm sorry for making you wait so long. The fact of the matter is that I had, for a while, lost my spark for this story. I had, effectively, a perfectly happy ending with my last update, a clean cutoff. I didn't know where or how to continue it. The next chapter began, for the longest time, with more happiness, but it just didn't feel... right. So it sat on my flash drive for months and months. I worked on other things, but this story was always in the back of my mind, telling me that it wanted to be updated.

Then, today, I got a wave of inspiration. I don't even know where it came from, but it made me just sit down, get out my notebook, and continue the story of Minato and Kushina. The end result is this update, which is both for you, but also for me and for Minato and Kushina themselves. Some part of me wants them to have that happy ending on the couch during the thunderstorm, but the truth is that my ultimate plans must be carried out, and the happy ending cannot exist forever.

Readers, I shall see this story through to the end, and I shall try and promise you more frequent updates. I'd rather cut off a finger than have this story die without you all enjoying the ending. Now that my muse is back from a most lengthy vacation, I can only hope that I won't lapse like I did back in March.

Thank you for all the reviews and support. Truly, it gives me a joy like nothing else, and I can only hope you enjoy this chapter like you enjoyed all the rest.

Until next time!

- Rii

-///-

It was in the morning that Minato and Kushina had their first real argument. It wasn't one of their usual one-sided spats, where she was the aggressive force and he the passive, soaking it in with his smile and not being affected at all by it. No, this was a full, hot, boiling argument, and all over a fairly stupid thing, as arguments tend to be.

As they lay together on her couch, morning sun streaming in through the window, Minato had wondered aloud how he was going to break the news to his colleagues.

Kushina turned her head, squinting in confusion. "Break the news about what?" she said.

"About us being together now," he replied. "What, you think we should keep it secret?"

"Well... no, that would be stupid," said Kushina, and began to sit up as more thoughts came into her head. "But... do you really need to go on, like... announcing it and stuff?"

"Well, it would be the right thing to do, I think," he said. "Since this _is_ going to be fairly long-term-"

"Yeah? But what if I change my mind?" said Kushina. Minato began to laugh, and she nudged him, hard, on the shoulder. "Hey! This isn't a laughing matter, y'know! You could be Prince Charming now, oh sure, but the minute you get into a commitment? Poof! Prince Charming becomes King Bastard! Believe me," she continued, rolling her eyes, "I've had my share of _those_ types."

"Kushina, please, nothing's going to change," he said, still laughing.

"Right, sure, I bet," Kushina said, scowling. "How do I know I can trust you? I mean... You're the goddamn Hokage, Minato, how am I to know that everything we had before was just an act for good PR?"

He was laughing again. "You just called me Minato," he said, with a grin.

"Shut the hell up! This is serious!" she said, and shoved him again. "Goddammit, Namikaze! The minute I talk about something remotely serious you get all giggly on me. I'd rather have you cry again like last night."

"All right, all right, I'll stop. This is important to you, I get it," he said, managing to pull his mouth into a straight line. "Like I said, Kushina, nothing's going to change. I've been completely genuine with you about everything. Nothing is going to change!"

She looked at him, her eyes narrowed and her eyebrows knit together. "Then why the hell'd you say that thing about making an announcement or whatever?" she said. "I mean, if nothing was gonna change, we'd just keep doing the same thing we always do. Y'know, see each other every now and then, maybe have dinner..."

"But what's wrong with announcement?" Minato said, interrupting slightly. "I mean, I'm sure Jiraiya-sensei would appreciate finding out, and your teammates-"

"See, that's just the thing!" said Kushina, sitting up a little more and gesturing wildly with her hand. "They don't _need_ to know! I mean, they know we've got this whole... baby-thing going on, but we can wait until _after_ that to go making any announcements."

"Kushina, I think you're being just a little unreasonable..."

She tossed her arms in the air in exasperation. "God, it's like I've goddamn proposed to you or something! _There is nothing to announce!_" she said, practically yelling by this point. "All that's changed you tried to propose to me and you finally wormed your way into my heart or whatever it is that happened last night."

"I didn't get that impression last night..." said Minato. "I thought we were going to be going steady by this point. Officially dating, you know?"

Kushina's mouth dropped open. "_Dating?! _What are you, a fucking teenager?! I'm not your fucking _girlfriend_, Minato!"

"Wait… what do you mean?" Minato's face was a pathetic mixture of confusion and what was almost hurt. "You mean you don't want to be with me?"

Her face smoothed slightly. "Minato, I do want to be with you. You're a sweet guy. But date you? Hell. No," she said, and frowned again. "Think about it! Have any of the other Hokage have had girlfriends?"

"Well, I'm sure they have. Sandaime-san is married…" Minato said, eyes downward and very unsure.

"But did they date _while_ they were the Hokage?"

Minato reluctantly shook his head.

"See, that's what I'm talking about! None of the Hokage have ever had girlfriends before. You know what kinds of gossip is gonna spread because of that?" Kushina said, waving her arms around again. "It's gonna seem like I'm some sorta cheap whore of yours if they go around calling me that. The Hokage's girlfriend! I can't fucking believe it!"

"Kushina, please, calm down…"

"Like hell I'm gonna calm down," Kushina said.

Minato's considerable patience was being tested, and he tapped his foot for a short while and frowned before speaking again. "I still think you're being unreasonable."

"You're the one that's being fucking unreasonable," said Kushina, glaring at him. "Why the _fuck_ would you even _dare_ say you wanted me to be your girlfriend? It's a fucking insult!"

"I never said I wanted you to be my girlfriend!" Minato protested. "I just said it would be nice if we just confirmed it with everyone that we were… together! Seeing each other! There's no difference, Kushina."

"There is too a fucking difference. I'm fine with us _seeing_ each other, but going on and making it _official_ like that is pushing it!"

"Kushina! Stop!" Minato said, himself now yelling. "Why do you have such a problem with this? I thought you'd be happy!"

"I _am_ happy that I don't have to feel bad for _liking_ you anymore!" Kushina yelled back. "What I _don't_ like is being reduced to some cheap public _whore_ for you!"

"Kushina!" Minato's face and voice were full of fresh outrage. "What is _wrong_ with you?"

"What's wrong with _you?!_" she replied, her voice now louder than his. She didn't doubt that their neighbors could hear them, but she didn't care in the slightest. "The minute you start calling me your girlfriend, other people are gonna start doing it, and it's gonna be the end of my fucking life! Do you think I _want_ to be seen that way?!"

"Kushina, since when did you care what other people think?" said Minato. "You always struck me as someone that didn't give a-"

"I'm not a fucking recluse, you stupid fuck!" Kushina interrupted. "I have a fucking reputation, you know. Being called your little _girlfriend_ would be the last nail in the fucking coffin! Dumbass!"

"Don't _call_ me that!" Minato's voice was now filled with anger and mild disgust. "Kushina, what the hell is your problem?"

"I just fucking _told_ you! I am not, nor will I _ever_ be your fucking _girlfriend!_" she screamed, her face unnecessarily close to his. "If you go off and say _anything_ like that I'm going to fucking _kill_ you!"

"Quiet! Shut up! Just... shut up!" The words left his mouth with the speed of a thrown knife. He was not a man of harsh words, and they sounded almost unnatural with his voice.

Kushina yelled back at him, "Don't you fucking dare tell me to shut up! Get the fuck out of my house! Out!"

Minato stared at her for a moment, breathing heavily and just staring at her. Kushina half expected him to break into tears. Instead, he yelled at her. "You know what?" he said, his voice thin and harsh. "Fine. Fine! I'm leaving!"

The apartment door shut behind him.

Kushing stood there, steaming for a moment, before proceeding to argue with absolutely nothing at all. It was as if she were telling off the invisible crowd that had come to gather around their spat.

"Asshole!" was the first thing she said, before she began to pace. "Unreasonable bastard! Fucking around with my heart like that! How dare he! How _dare_ he! The fucking bastard!"

She was in the kitchen now, heading towards the refrigerator. "And he calls _me_ unreasonable! Me! I'm the most reasonable one in this entire goddamn relationship, for fuck's sake!"

Out of the fridge she took out a green can of melon soda, opened it, and gulped down a good third of it in one go. She gasped. "Fucking asshole," she muttered. "Unreasonable." Her temper was still throbbing in her head. "Why the fuck. How dare he."

The next few minutes passed more or less in this manner, with disconnected curses and melon soda. With each sip and insult, her head cooled just a bit more. What an asshole. The minute she opens her heart (just a little, even!) to him, he goes and grabs for what he can with both hands and says he wants her to be his _girlfriend._ The nerve! Like hell she would. He was a good guy, but for him to want her to be his _girlfriend!_ She was better off without him.

It was as she had this thought that she finished her soda, and a terrible idea dawned upon her as she took a moment to digest it.

What if she had really chased him off? For good?

Oh god.

Slamming the empty can down on the counter, she rushed outside and, opening the door, searched frantically for a flash of yellow.

Nothing.

She called his name once, twice, three times.

Still nothing.

Minato was gone. _Really_ gone.

Something in Kushina's mind told her that she had made a bad decision, and shame on her for that. Another said that she was in some deep and serious shit. A third voice told her that she had to grow a pair and do something about it.

So she did. She called Mikoto, because obviously she would know what to do, being married and not a complete bitch.

Mikoto's voice on the other end was sleepy and obviously just-woken up. "Mmhello?"

"Mikoto? It's Kushina..." She sat on the couch with a worried expression and voice, rocking a little as she did.

There was a slight pause, and a rustle of sheets in the background. "What's wrong?" she said, sounding a little more awake.

"I'm in a bind. I just made a huge fucking mistake and I don't know what to do about it." Kushina was practically biting her nails. She hadn't bitten her nails in months.

"What happened, though?"

Kushina sucked on her lips and looked downward, as if Mikoto were there, staring her down. "I think made Minato leave."

"What?"

"He left! He..." She wished she didn't have as many details to skip over, and groaned. "He came over last night and ended up spending the night, and then we had this _argument_ this morning, and he just stormed off! And I think it's my fault."

"What did you fight about?"

"Is it any of your business?" Kushina snapped, before groaning a little again and running her hand through her hair, still messy from the night before. "Listen, I just need some advice. You have fights with your husband sometimes, right?"

"Well, every relationship has its rough patches..."

"Will you just answer my question?" Kushina had begun to run her fingers through the length of her hair, nervously. "Do you fight with your husband?"

"Sometimes, yes."

"Well... what do you guys do to make up? I mean, you're still together, so you have to make up somehow..."

Mikoto was silent for a while, then sighed and answered. "Well, first we just give each other space. Time to think about what we've said to each other, considering what everyone else said. And usually one of us apologizes before long."

"Yeah? Is it usually you or him?" Kushina said. Her fingers became stuck on a knot, and she struggled to untangle it a little as Mikoto answered.

"Um... well, honestly, it depends on the situation..."

Kushina jerked her fingers out of her hair with a wince. "Mikoto, just answer me, will you? I need advice."

"...honestly, Kushina, I don't know what to say. What did you argue about?"

Kushina frowned and didn't say anything for a while. "...nevermind. Thanks anyways," she said, and hung up before Mikoto could say anything more.

Mikoto had given her some advice, indeed. Not very immediate advice, but advice nonetheless. And she didn't feel like hearing anything more that she might say, being that she was in a bad mood as it was.

So, being that she was tired, Kushina went back to bed.

-///-

When she woke up, Minato hadn't shown any sign of apologizing. He wasn't in her apartment, nor had he called her. So much for wishful thinking.

She hadn't exactly been thinking over their situation, herself. She still thought he was a royal douche, and that wasn't going to change anytime soon, from the looks of it.

Ah well. She was hungry, first off, so she took a shower and got that squared away before anything else.

The shower gave her some ideas. They weren't very good ideas at all. One of them was to call Mikoto back and ask her again for advice, but that would get her nowhere. She also considered calling Minato and yelling at him some more, as if that would give her some answers, but chances were slim with that. And she sure as hell wasn't calling any of her teammates for help.

But it was on that train of thought about her teammates that she got another idea. Toast still in her mouth, she swallowed as she thought it over, took another bite, and afterwards resolved to call up her teacher after she got dressed.

Naoka-sensei insisted after a minute that she come over.

-///-

Naoka-sensei lived near the middle of the city with her husband and son, and while she was in her late 40's (she and her husband had decided to wait before having children), she was still teaching young ninja at the academy, though it had been ages since she had last had a trio of students of her own. It had been a long time since Kushina had last seen her, for that matter, so she should have expected the hug that came when the door to her house opened. Naoka-sensei had strong arms.

"Kushina! Oh my, it's been so long!" she said, and suddenly pulled away when she felt Kushina's stomach. "Oh my god, and you're _pregnant!_ Since when?"

"Since January. Ow! Naoka-sensei!"

Naoka smiled. "I'm sure you'll tell me all about it. Come on in, I made coffee."

Naoka-sensei always had strange tastes, drinking coffee instead of tea like most people did. When Kushina was younger, she'd come over to work on jutsu at her house, and afterwards have a cup of the stuff afterwards, especially on cold days. When Kushina was handed her mug, she found the bitter taste calmingly familiar, and she asked herself for probably the fifth time why she hadn't thought of this before.

"So." They seated themselves at her kitchen table. "How's everyone?"

"Oh they're good," Kushina said. "The team, I mean. We haven't been doing stuff together since I... well you can probably guess."

"Already thought so." Naoka smiled. "So, what's the reason for the phone call today?"

"I'm sure you've heard it already," Kushina said, leaning back a little in her seat. "Since we haven't seen each other in forever."

"What, you mean the reason why you're knocked up?"

Kushina laughed. "Yeah, something like that."

"Haven't heard a thing," Naoka replied, with her wide smile. "Feel like sharing or no?"

"It's a long story, and I don't really feel like telling it, but..." She lowered her eyes and took a deep breath in and out. "It involves the Hokage, I guess,."

"Fair enough," said Naoka. She was smirking. "I'm going to guess your current troubles also have to do with the Hokage, too?"

Kushina shrugged. "Dunno if it's important."

"Well. Tell me about it."

Kushina took a sip of her coffee before she started. And she talked.

Thinking back, she wondered why she hadn't hit up Naoka for any sort of advice before. Part of her felt that it was perhaps because Naoka had been a source of advice for her when she was a kid, and consulting her for adult situations would be downright embarrassing. Naoka was always the one the kids her team went to for advice, when it was sorely needed, but it was always for childish stuff like why So-and-So was always mean, or why What's-his-Face was such a jerk. Kushina couldn't even imagine it, going to her after the whole New Year's incident and asking her for advice. She might as well have been asking her mother for sex advice.

But now, hell, she had no other resources, because Mikoto had been pretty useless. And so far, going to Naoka-sensei was working.

A lifetime seemed to pass after Kushina finished telling Naoka about her predicament, because she just sat there, thinking.

"The best advice I can give you, Kushina," she said, after taking a deep and thoughtful breath, "is to just wait for something to happen."

Kushina's face, taught with anticipation, soon squeezed back into confusion. "Huh?"

"Just wait. Arguments like these always settle themselves. The best thing to do is to wait until either he apologizes," (Kushina hadn't mentioned Minato once), "or you feel the compulsion to."

"That's no better than what Mikoto said!" Kushina yelled, almost outraged. "You expect that to help?"

"Eh. Works for me," Naoka said, and took a sip of her coffee. Before Kushina could say more, she swallowed and said, "The most important thing is not to be too hard on yourself. It's not one person's fault nor the other's. Usually, it's _both_ parties that are responsible. Believe me, Kushina."

"He's the one who said I should be his girlfriend," Kushina grumbled, after thinking it over for a while.

"And you're the one who reacted. Perhaps it was all just a misunderstanding," Naoka replied. "Just be patient and let things work themselves out. Emotions are tricky business with people. We like to intervene too much."

She got up out of her chair and put a hand on Kushina's back. "I know you'll do the right thing," she said with a smile. "Now, you should be on your way and doing whatever it is you do with your spare time. Bet you just _hate_ maternity leave."

"You have no idea," Kushina replied with a smile. "Thanks, Naoka-sensei."

"Anytime, Kushina. By the way, you know what you're having?"

"Oh yeah, a boy."

Naoka grinned. "Be careful with those. They're troublemakers."

"You think I'd want it any other way?" Kushina laughed. "Besides, his dad's mostly taking care of him."

"Oh yeah? Good luck to him, then," said Naoka, with a wink.

"I'll be sure to tell him."

When she rose, she didn't give her teacher a hug, but crooked smiles were exchanged instead.

-///-

Kushina spent most of her time that day just thinking on her couch, her hand on her stomach. Her son was strangely quiet that day, as if respectfully giving his mother room to think. Kushina more than appreciated it: Minato just a strange person, and a difficult one to understand at that, especially with times like this. She needed all the concentration she could get.

She came to the conclusion, after a good hour or so, that he was just trying to be nice in his own way. She still didn't want to be called his girlfriend; she _never_ wanted to be called that. But she didn't mind having him announce it. Quietly. That was something of a halfway point, wasn't it? Something the both of them could agree on.

Upon reaching this conclusion, she wanted very badly to go to the mansion and see if he was there, and rub it in his face so they could get along again, but she decided to let it sit for the rest of the day and see where it carried her.

Instead, she called up Mikoto again, and got her husband on the phone instead.

"Hey, put your wife on, could you?" she said, when she heard a male voice instead of the gentle female. "It's Kushina."

After what was no doubt a perplexed silence, she heard Mikoto's voice. "Hello?"

"Hey. Uh, sorry for being so rude this morning. I wasn't myself," Kushina said, a sheepish smile on her face.

"Understandable. Did everything work out all right for you?"

"Eh, not yet. But I'm sure it will if I just leave it alone."

Mikoto laughed a little. "Following my advice?"

"A little, yeah," Kushina said. "Thanks for putting up with me."

"It was no problem. See you later!"

"Yeah, you too."

She hung up the phone feeling decidedly better, and treated herself to lunch later that day as a sort of reward.

-///-

The next day, Minato was in her doorway. The fact startled her quite a bit when she went out to get some groceries later in the morning, and saw that mop of yellow hair at her eye level.

"What the fuck are you doing in here?!" she yelled, startling him.

"Oh, god! Uh! Kushina!" he said, snapping upright and looking around nervously. "Oh god, I'm sorry, I was just about to leave..."

"Like_ hell_ you..." she began, and sighed. It was better not to think too hard at this early in the morning. "So what is it this time?"

He sighed, fairly guiltily. "Kushing, I'm sorry. I just feel really bad for yesterday, and I wanted to apologize."

"Yeah, well, you know what?" Her face was almost angry for a second, before she sighed in defeat. "Me too. I'm sorry for yelling at you like that," she said, with as shy as smile as a person like Kushina could ever have. "You don't really deserve it."

"You mean it?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Even if you are a dumbass."

They both smiled, and she walked over to him, scratching the back of her head. "Are we still together?" he asked.

"Ohhhh yeah," she said, putting her arms around his shoulders and smiling. "I'm still not your girlfriend."

"Would you rather me call you my lover?"

"Fucking hell no," she said, and kissed him before another argument could start, her stomach getting in the way only a little.


	19. The Fish Cake Boy

Author's Note

Again, sorry for the late update! Real Life keeps catching up with me, and I really don't have nearly as much time on my hands to write fanfiction. Still, considering it's Valentine's Day, I felt it was time for an update, so I sat down to write one.

I'm sorry for the last chapter feeling as forced as it was, but I had to get it out of the way. I promise this one will be at least a little better, if not somewhat short. At any rate, it ties into the manga a little!

Lots of love,

Rii

-///-

Kushina woke up to find that her pants were missing. All of them. She didn't really notice it until she had groped around in her closet drawers to find that everything but her underwear had been stolen.

Immediately, she began to have suspicions as to who might be behind it. They were confirmed when she found a dress laid out on her couch with a note attached.

_Kushina,_

_Put this on and come to my place by noon I'll explain everything there._

_Love you!_

_Minato_

Cute as the ending of the note was, it didn't stop Kushina from growling and yelling "MOTHERFUCKER!" before she angrily put the dress on and marched outside.

True to his word, Minato was waiting for her there with a smile on his face. "My! That looks nicer on you than I thought it would," he said, and leaned in for a kiss.

"Cut the crap and tell me why we're here," she said, stopping him with her hand. She could feel his laughter in her fingers and groaned.

"Well, I finally came up with a name for the baby," he said. "I was hoping that the both of us would be able to tell Jiraiya-sensei about it."

"Oh yeah? What kind of name?" Kushina said, though her eyebrows, raised in curiosity, quickly dropped. "Wait, why do we have to tell _Jiraiya_ about this? Is this some sort of scheme?"

"No, no, it's not a scheme," Minato laughed, and reached for something on the table. It was a small paperback book with a blank and inconspicuous cover. "The name came from a character in one of his books, so I thought he should be the first to know. See, here it is. He sent me one of the first copies."

"...wait, doesn't he write, like, erotic stuff?" said Kushina, and scowled. "I won't have anything to do with this if we name him after something like that."

"He writes adventure stories too, you know," Minato said, and patted her on the shoulder. "I wouldn't do anything like _that._ Besides, I haven't even told you what the name is."

Kushina smiled slightly. "All right, what is it?"

"Naruto."

"...wait, what? _ Naruto?_ Like the little fish cakes you get in your ramen?" Minato nodded. "Oh god, that is absolutely ridiculous..."

"Just bear with me, Kushina. It's a strange name, I know, but it's got a nice little ring to it, doesn't it?"

"No."

"Hey, I'm the one raising it, so I get the final say."

"And I'm the one that's actually gonna _have_ it, so I get some say too, all right?" She thumped him on the shoulder with her fist. "It's a weird name, yeah, but it's not bad," she admitted. "I just think we could pick something better."

"He's the main character in a series of books he's been working on since forever," Minato continued, holding out the book for emphasis. "He only finished it recently. This Naruto guy's a wandering shinobi and a real cool guy. Heck, you should read it sometime."

"Aren't there any _other_ characters you could name him after, if this book means so much to you?" Kushina sighed, after taking the book and flipping through the pages, but not reading them.

"Not really. Most of them are girls."

Kushina raised an eyebrow and shoved the book back into Minato's chest. "I thought you said this was an _adventure_ book this came out of, not a romance."

"Who says there can't be romance in adventure stories? Besides," he added, "they're not all there for show. They're all great warriors! Somehow, I think this is because of Tsunade-sensei."

"Whatever," she said, faking a yawn, and he laughed.

"Are you okay with this, though?" he asked her.

She thought for a moment, and laughed as well. "You know what? Sure. I don't really care. Your fault if our kid gets teased for being named after a fish cake," she said, and smirked in spite of herself. "Promise me you'll rename him if something better comes along, though, okay?"

"Kushina, you are absolutely _wonderful_. Thank you so much!" he said, and kissed her.

"Hey! Stop that, okay?" she said, pushing him away with her arms. "So, what do I have to do?"

"Just wait in the kitchen until my cue, okay?"

"And your cue would be...?"

"Just come in after I tell him that we're going to name him after the book. And tell him what you think of the name."

"So... I'm supposed to tell him how weird I think it is?"

He laughed again, putting the book back on the table. "Well, something a little nicer would be better, but I'm sure he'd still appreciate it, hearing it from you." He gave her a hug. "Really, I appreciate this so much."

"Enough with the hugging! There'll be time enough for that later," she said, tugging herself free but still ruffling his hair with affection. "When's he coming over, anyways?"

"Oh, in about five minutes."

Kushina almost punched him again. "You could have had me get here sooner! God, you're so inconsiderate!" she said, and went stomping into the kitchen. "And I'm hungry on top of that, what the hell..."

"Help yourself to some food, by all means!" he called. "I'm sorry if you skipped breakfast for this!"

"Yeah, sure," she said, and began to search in the pantry for something to munch on. Jiraiya arrived shortly afterwards, as she heard the door open and close and Minato yell something happily from a bit further away. Hoping her crunching didn't cause too much noise, she stood and waited and listened while eating a bag of potato chips she had found.

"...really glad you could make it. Have a seat!" she heard Minato say, his voice getting louder as the two of them drew closer. "You want some tea?"

"Heh, thanks." Jiraiya's voice sounded tired. Did he get up too early, maybe?

"I'll go get us some," Minato said, and entered the kitchen. A teapot sat waiting on the stove, and he poured two cups while winking at Kushina. She stuck her tongue out at him and winked back.

"Here we go..." Minato said, with a light clunk as he set the glasses down.

"So, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Jiraiya asked.

"What do you think? That book you just finished! I just finished reading it and I gotta say, I'm really impressed!"

Kushina almost laughed. Minato sounded just like a little kid, gushing to his childhood hero.

"Eh, it was okay. I don't think it's my best."

"Oh come on, you put so much time into it."

"Time wasted." His tiredness became much more apparent here, and Kushina stopped eating and put down her bag of chips to listen better. "It's not really worth anything."

"Come on, you don't really mean that, do you?" She could practically hear the grin in Minato's voice. "I loved it!" There was a rustling of paper as Minato flipped through the book. "It felt like I was reading about your life. It's practically an autobiography!"

"Oh, come on, kid. It's a flop, I've barely sold any copies," Jiraiya said, his tone almost defeated. "Maybe I should make it more of a harem plot in the next book, I'm a lot better at those..."

Kushina sighed, rolling her eyes. Typical Jiraiya. Still, there was something in the way he said it that seemed unusually sad.

"Nah, it was fine. Don't go saying things like that," Minato said. "You know what, I think the best thing was that the main character didn't give up. Kinda like you, sensei! It's really admirable."

"You really think so, huh?"

"Oh yeah. In fact, I was kinda thinking..." Kushina could tell that it was almost time for her entrance, so she brushed the chip crumbs off her dress and took a breath in and out.

"Kushina and I want our son to be a shinobi like the one in that book!"

Kushina almost started laughing from the complete and utter cheesiness. What the hell, Minato!

"That's why we're naming him after the main character," he continued. There was a pause. "So, what do you think?"

Kushina stepped forward, holding back her giggles, when Jiraiya started to talk.

"Minato, are you kidding me? You're gonna name your kid _that?_" Jiraiya said. "I just picked it when I was eating some ramen and stuck for ideas."

"Naruto's a nice name, though," Kushina said, leaning on the doorway with a smile.

"Kushina?" Jiraiya said, and started laughing as she stepped forward and put her hand on Minato's shoulder. Her grip was fairly firm. "Oh man, now I _know _you're not kidding." He scratched the back of his head, before stopping his laughs. "Wait, does this make me his godfather or something? You guys know what you're getting into?"

"Well, yeah!" Minato replied, his smile growing a little smaller and more serious. "You're a great guy, sensei. I couldn't think of a better person for my son to use as a role model."

"Because naming him after _you_ would be weird, you know?" Kushina added, with a smile of her own. "Better to use a guy who's kinda like you, right?"

"Kushina..."

"What, I'm only telling the truth," Kushina replied. She winked. "I think it's a pretty good name, myself. And you're gonna have to let me read that book of yours before we decide on anything final, okay?"

"What, so are you going to name him Naruto or not?" Jiraiya said.

"We are!"

"_Planning_ on it. It's still no sure thing, you got me?" Kushina said, squeezing his shoulder a little harder with a mischievous smile. "I'm okay with it for now, but I told him that if something better comes up then we're changing it. No hard feelings then, okay?"

Jiraiya burst into laughter. "Oh man, oh man, you two..." His laughter faded into chuckles. "Come to think of it, since when were you guys making decisions together?"

"Huh?" the two of them said, at the same time.

"Nothing, nothing," Jiraiya replied, and they turned towards each other, confused. "Either way, I'm absolutely touched. Wow. I'd never expect this, not in a million years."

"I'm glad you feel that way, sensei." Minato's smile was a warm smile. "You really mean that much to us."

"Him, at least."

"Kushina!"

Jiraiya began laughing again.

-///-

"You didn't have to be that rude to him," Minato said, after Jiraiya had left.

"Ah, who cares? He didn't. He thought it was hilarious," Kushina replied, her face stuck in a near-permanent smile. She was most certainly in good spirits. "Come on, I _was_ pretty funny."

"If teasing me counts as funny..." he said, almost sourly.

"Oh come on, it's adorable. Come here," she said, and gave him a kiss. "You were good about it."

"And you were good for coming today," he replied, smiling warmly as they pulled away, but still held each other. "Does that make us both good sports?"

"I dunno, I just want you to give me my damn pants back." Minato began laughing. "Come on, where the hell are they? This dress was completely pointless."

"Well, you _do_ look nice in it."

"Shut up and give me back my pants!"

"All right, all right," he said, and began walking into the hallway. "Come on, aren't you coming?"

She sensed more scheming and, laughing a little, followed. He had hidden the pants in the nursery, neatly folded into a shopping bag. "What's this, did you add more?" she said, looking around. Everything was still the same warm green.

"I thought you might want to try the rocking chair, seeing as you didn't have time last time you came over to visit," he said. "If it's not comfortable enough then I'll just have to get a new one. Maybe you can come, too?"

She looked at him with skeptical eyebrows, before shrugging. "Sure, if the chair sucks. And I hope it doesn't."

Sitting down, she found the chair to be quite comfortable. "Looks like we won't be going shopping," she said, with a wink. "It's a nice chair."

"Then I'm glad I got a good one," he said, and leaned against the back of the chair, stopping its rocking. "To think that we'll be holding our little Naruto in this chair soon. How much longer now?"

"Two months or so," Kushina replied. "Or is it one? I can never count these things properly. He's due in September. And we haven't decided on a name, remember?" she added, tugging on his hair playfully.

"We can call him Naruto for now, though."

"Sure, sure," she said, and rocked the chair back a little violently to get Minato away from her, giggling as she did so. "Now give me my pants."

-///-

Though it was only mid-afternoon, Jiraiya finally felt like going to sleep.

He hadn't slept since the day before, his stress and nightmares keeping him from resting peacefully. But hearing Minato and Kushina playfully bicker and tell him they were naming their child after something he had created—almost like they were naming it after him—it was almost exactly what he needed to hear.

Stepping into his house, the cause of his stress lay on the floor, underneath a copy of his book.

It was a letter from Orochimaru saying, in his beautiful handwriting, that he was never coming back. Jiraiya had given the book to him a week before he fled Konoha, and it took nearly a year for the book and the reply to come back.

Taking a deep breath, he took the letter and the book and put them in a drawer before going to sleep and dreaming of happier things.


	20. Can't Help But Wonder

Author's Note

All I can say is that I am sorry for being gone so long. The spirit of this story left a long time ago, but it's finally, finally returned.

That, and I love you all for sticking with me. I hope that this, and all my upcoming chapters, more than make up for it.

I will end this story. I owe it to you all, to myself, but most importantly, to Minato and Kushina.

Rii

-///-

_Wake up, Katsuya! There's a lot of stuff to do today, so let's go already!_

-///-

It was just one of those days. Muggy and overcast, and even with a fan on, Kushina was absolutely drenched in sweat, and reduced to a shirt and her underwear. Her ankles, which had up till then been relatively well-behaved, were swollen like mad and kept her out of her shoes as well. There was nothing to read or listen to, Minato was out of town until further notice, and her head was full of cloudy and conflicting thoughts, leaving her in a quiet, contemplative mood. This was never good news.

But the grand cherry on top of this Sundae of Suck (despite the fact that it was a Tuesday) was the sudden and pathetically desperate phone call she received from Mikoto, pleading her to get to her house right away, for there was something she just _had_ to see. After a good five minutes of groggy questioning her on the phone, Kushina still had no idea what was going on, so she begrudgingly put some pants on and left her apartment for the Uchiha compound.

Which brought her to a baby shower. For her.

"…the hell is this?" Kushina said, after being showered in confetti from several baby-blue party poppers.

"It's a baby shower!" Mikoto trilled. "Since you haven't had a proper one yet, you know. We all thought it would be a nice thing to do."

"…you really didn't have to do this," Kushina muttered, staring at her feet with her eyebrows knit together.

"Oh, come off it. Have some cake!" Tsume said, clapping Kushina on the shoulder and shoving a popper into her hands. "What else is there to do, anyways?"

Kushina winced and rubbed her forehead with one hand. "What the hell."

"Easy there. You okay, Kushina?"

The voice was familiar, and Kushina looked up. "Naoka-sensei? What are you doing here?"

"Hey, it was my idea in the first place," Naoka replied, with a cheery wink. "Himawari-sensei told me you hadn't had your party yet, so I called up a few people, and Mikoto agreed to host it at her place."

"And I helped put up some decorations!" a small voice, from somewhere around Naoka's waist, chimed. It was a young boy, barely genin-age, with a grin the size of a mountain on his face.

"I'm sorry, my son insisted on coming too," Naoka said, and rumpled the boy's hair.

Kushina still didn't know what to say, and went back to rubbing her forehead. Naoka noticed.

"You okay, kiddo?" she asked.

"I just dunno what to say about all this," she said, and managed a stretched smile. "Uh, thanks…? I wasn't expecting this?"

"Well _duh_, it's a surprise party," Tsume said, and laughed. "C'mere, Kushina. You gotta try out this cake. It's fantastic."

"Tsume-san, I told you not to taste it yet!" Mikoto said.

"Hey, I couldn't help myself!"

Kushina shrugged, and followed Tsume to the kitchen, where there was, indeed, a rather nice cake. Mikoto followed most cheerfully, but Naoka stayed behind, her face low.

"Something wrong, mom?"

Naoka took a breath in and out. "I'm fine, Iruka. Let's go have some cake."

Her boy smiled. "Okay!"

-///-

"Oh, look! What a cute little outfit! I love the little spirals on it!"

They were opening gifts, now, and everyone was talking but Kushina. There were quite a few absentees at this little shower, for various reasons—Himawari, for one, was feeling ill that day—and their gifts had been opened first. Kushina sat in a chair, surrounded on either side by baby clothes and bottles, which she glanced at almost suspiciously from time to time.

"Kushina, what do you think?" Mikoto asked, putting the onesie in Kushina's lap. Kushina smiled a little and nodded, though her eyes were distant.

"We got games after this, right?" said Tsume, and laughed when Mikoto nodded. "Oh, _awesome_."

Kushina stood, putting the clothes aside. "I need some fresh air, you guys."

"Are you okay, Kushina-san?" asked Himawari.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she replied. "I'll be right back."

Kushina stepped out into the back garden, and closed the screen doors behind her. She could hear the guests laughing from inside, and she managed a slight smile, as if they could see her. A large tree stood in the middle of the garden, almost invitingly, and although it wasn't a sunny day, Kushina sat below it, as if it had some sort of comforting shade to offer her.

What in the hell was going on? All this nonsense about a baby shower, she didn't understand any of it. And out of the blue, at that? What in the hell? A surprise party? What? Seriously?

A few more opinions and questions made a round through her mind, the heat making her eyelids heavy and her thoughts inconsistent. She shouldn't even be here, she thought. It was a fucking awful day, it was. It was like a bad dream, and yet… Wasn't she falling asleep just then?

Her mind did not supply an answer.

-///-

"_So what are you going to show me today, huh? Huh? Tell me!"_

_Kushina was 7 years old. Katsuya was 13. He was the world to her, and he was going to share some of his wisdom with her. He had made a promise._

"_Promise not to tell Dad, okay?" he said._

_Kushina nodded, utterly solemn. "I'd die before I'd tell him."_

_Katsuya smiled at her. "I knew I could trust you. C'mon." He took her hand, her little fingers in his, and led her into the woods._

"_I'm your _sister_, Katsuya. 'course you can trust me. You can trust me with anything," she told him, and he laughed._

_They came to a large tree, old and rotting from the inside out. "Close your eyes," Katsuya said, and Kushina did so. She would make herself blind for him, if that's what he needed. _

_He placed small, cold, narrow things in her hands. She moved her palms and fingers around them. "Open 'em," he said, and she opened her eyes. She gasped. She wiggled her eyebrows._

"_What _are_ they?" she asked. They looked like giant needles, silver and light, but there was no hole to put yarn or thread in the top._

"_I dunno! But they're pretty cool, huh?" Katsuya said, his grin on his face. "I found 'em a few days ago at the other end of the woods."_

_Kushina gasped. "But Dad told you not to go there! That's where all the _nin_ hang out!" She had always wanted to go there, to watch the battles in all their glory, someday. But she didn't have the balls._

_Katsuya did. That's why she loved him so much._

"_Exactly," said Katsuya. His eyes were sharp, like a cat's. "That's why I said not to tell Dad."_

_Kushina smiled with closed lips. She clutched the needles tightly in her hand. They were cold, and made sounds like their grandmother's hair ornaments when she moved. "So what are we gonna do with 'em?"_

"_I dunno!" said Katsuya, holding out his hand. She put them back where they belonged. He held them up to the light. "They just look cool."_

_Kushina agreed with him._

-///-

"_I don't think I'm coming home."_

-///-

"Are you okay down there?"

Kushina 's eyes were sticky when she opened them, and she stretched and yawned. A woman in a dark dress was standing over her, a half-concerned, half-annoyed sort of expression on her face.

"Musta… fallen asleep. Ugh…" Kushina groaned, and fumbled to her feet—no easy task, but the woman in the dress offered a somewhat-helpful hand. "Probably should get back to the shower…"

"Shower…? Oh, that's right. I was here for Mikoto," the woman in the dress said. Kushina looked her over for a moment. She was a pretty sort of plain, with her hair pulled back into a loose bun. She was also slightly, but visibly, pregnant. Funny, why hadn't Kushina seen her at any of the Mommy Classes?

"After you?" the woman said, and Kushina opened the screen. The presents had long since been sorted into neat piles—probably by Mikoto—and Tsume was debating with Naoka's son over which party game to play.

"You feeling better, hon?" Naoka asked Kushina. Kushina nodded, sleepily, and went to join Tsume.

"What are you doing here, Natsume-chan?" Mikoto added.

"Just a note from your husband. I was by the gate when he stopped by." Natsume's voice was soft, and easy on the ears, but hollow, almost contemptuous. They were almost exactly like her eyes. "He's going to be working late tonight."

"That's fine. Thanks very much," Mikoto said, with a smile, and a short nod. When Natsume did not leave, she tugged her head sideways, as if to shoo the girl out.

Natsume lingered for one moment more, her hand on her belly and a look of utter resentment on her face as she stared at the presents, before leaving with a slight bow.

Mikoto shook her head and sighed. "That girl, really. She needs to stop being sorry for herself and just move on."

"Oh yeah? What happened?" Tsume said. Kushina had settled down on the couch again, and began idly looking through the clothes again.

"Something to do with a boyfriend. Died out in Rock," Mikoto said lightly. "I don't know very much. Though is it any of our businesses?" She noticed Kushina, who had started making piles of little outfits on her lap. "Oh, Kushina-chan, what do you think of that one, again? I think it's so cute."

Tsume put a few pieces together in her head, and made a slight face. "Tough break," she said. "That _does_ suck."

"We should probably get these to Minato's," Kushina said, putting down the onesie and looking at Mikoto. "He's got the nursery at his house."

"How's he treating you these days, anyways?" Tsume said.

A small, but genuine smile, filled Kushina's face. The first of the day. "He's wonderful," she said, with an almost unintentionally dreamy tone. "We're doing fine."

"That's so good to hear!" Mikoto said, though Tsume was beginning to share Naoka's worried expression.

"You okay there, Uzumaki?" she said.

"I'm just tired," said Kushina. She rubbed at one eye with the underside of her palm.

"Tell you what," Naoka said, standing up and getting one of the larger empty boxes. "Why don't we get some of this packed away? I'll follow you to the Manor."

"Thanks…" Kushina said, and yawned.

"Aw, no games then, huh?" said Tsume, and shrugged. "Oh well. We still got Yoshino! We should throw her a shower."

"I haven't seen her in forever," Mikoto added. "I wonder how she's doing?"

Naoka was on her knees, box in her lap, putting clothes in. "I know something's bothering you," she whispered to Kushina. "We can talk on the way over."

Kushina nodded slightly, and helped with the packing. They left shortly afterward, though Naoka's boy stayed behind to help Mikoto clean.

"What a good kid. Takes after his dad, he does," Naoka said. "So, what's on your mind? You're totally spaced."

"Mm," Kushina replied. "It's just one of those days, I guess."

"I'll say. You didn't even swear when you arrived at the party."

"Mm," Kushina said again. "I just wanna go home and sleep after this."

Naoka looked at her again, eyebrows slightly raised. She then smiled, slightly. "I'm sure a nap would make you feel worlds better. But let's get this stuff put away."

"Mm."

"You sure there's nothing for you to talk about?" she said. Kushina nodded. "Well, okay then."

Naoka was far from soothed, however.

-///-

"_So what were you two up to today?"_

_It was dinner, and Kushina and Katsuya exchanged glances full of secrets at the table. Their father, his long, autumn leaf-brown hair frizzled by the humidity of the kitchen, grew suspicious immediately. He knew them too well._

"_All right, spill it. Where did you go?"_

"_Well, me an' Hojo made a fort in the woods. That's where we were at," Katsuya said. He was only half-lying, too._

"_Is that so." Their father spooned soup into their bowls. His cooking was always so bland, compared to their grandmother's, but she was out with friends that night, playing mahjongg. Though she was blind, she knew each tile from the way they felt, which enthralled Kushina entirely. Her greatest ambition, after being her brother's greatest sidekick, was to be as cool as her grandma someday._

_She didn't want to be her mom, though. Her mom was dead._

"_So what did you do in this fort of yours?" their father asked them._

"_Played ninja," said Katsuya. Kushina giggled._

"_Nothing _too_ rowdy, I hope," said their father._

"'_course not! We'd never do anything like that," Kushina said. Which was more than half-true._

_Their father's light-brown eyebrows danced in suspicion, before he gave them a warm smile. "You two. Out all day doing who-knows-what. You're lucky you get along so well."_

_Kushina and Katsuya glanced at each other. They weren't lucky. They just had each other._

-///-

"_Katsuya, no, please… Come back…"_

-///-

Kushina was awakened by the sweet smell of Minato above her, and his hair brushing her face, a kiss on her forehead. She opened her eyes slightly, and turned around.

"What are you doing on my couch?" he said, smiling. She didn't answer, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. "Taking a nap?"

She could hardly remember falling asleep. "Where's Naoka-sensei?" she asked.

"Huh? I didn't see anyone else," Minato replied. "What's going on, Kushina?"

Kushina rubbed her eyes, frowning. "I was ambushed by a baby shower," she said.

Minato laughed. "Really!"

She nodded. "Yeah. Naoka-sensei were putting some of the clothes in the nursery…" she said, and began walking towards said nursery, to make sure that they actually got the job done. "I guess I got tired."

Minato put his head on her shoulder, stopping her mid-step. "You're awfully cute when you're tired, you know that?"

"Don't call me cute…" she grumbled. "I feel like shit."

"Whatever you say," he chuckled. They reached the nursery, and, sure enough, the outfits were neatly folded in the cupboards. "Wow, those are really nice."

"I guess…" she said. "I think I'm gonna go home to sleep now."

"Is something the matter?" Minato asked. Kushina shrugged, squinting her eyes.

"I got a headache and my feet hurt like hell," she said. She began on her way to the exit. "Today sucks."

"You wanna stay here?" Minato said. "It wouldn't be any trouble."

She considered it for a while. "Where's a bed? I don't wanna use your couch again."

He smiled warmly, though there was a tinge of worry in his brow. He took her by the hand and led her downstairs. "Your skin is warm. Do you think you might be sick?"

"No clue… I just wanna get some sleep," she said.

"I understand. But if this keeps up, let's go to the doctor, okay? I don't want anything to happen to the baby."

Kushina nodded slightly, the headache decreasing slightly as they entered the bedroom, which was cool from the closed curtains. She curled up into the bed, closing her eyes and moaning softly.

Minato sat by her side as she fell asleep, stroking her head. It felt nice. Really nice.

"I just don't get it," she mumbled, as she adjusted herself a little beneath the sheets. "Don't get it at all…"

"Don't get what?" he said.

"Why people do things like this… Like showers and shit. And waiting by the bed."

Minato laughed, very softly. "I guess it's just a way of showing love," he said.

"Like a… family, huh…"

"Yeah. Like a family, I guess."

How many years had it been since Kushina had had a family? "I just don't get it…" she said again, curling up deeper into the sheets.

"Doesn't really make sense," Minato said. "It just happens. Shh, just get your sleep."

"Family just… happens. First thing to make sense today…" Leave it Minato to go dispensing the philosophy…

She closed her eyes for good, and Minato kissed her on the cheek, turning off the lights as he left.

Family, love, just happens.

It was all so sudden. Something she had lost in one fell swoop so suddenly restored.

Or had it always been there?

She was too far into her sleep to think about it.

-///-

"_Kushina, I promise, I'll come back someday."_

_He never did._

-///-

She paid respects to her brother in the morning, her mind finally clear, eyes finally bright.

But she knew, finally, that her family was still alive. And so, her prayers were felt with a smile.

"Just come back. Somehow."


	21. Asking Why

Author's Note

I would strongly recommend re-reading chapters 8 and 11 before reading this chapter. There is not much else to say, aside from my many strong and heartfelt thank yous. The support is immensely appreciated.

Rii

-///-

In the morning, Kushina made Minato breakfast. This surprised him greatly as he stumbled into the kitchen with his hair tangled in every direction, especially considering the fact that she even knew where the food was kept.

"Ah, mornin'. You like peppers?" she said, turning around to face him. Her face had a rough, unpolished smile on it.

"I guess?" he said, rubbing his eye. "You slept through the entire night."

"Yep. And I hope you like omelets, then," she continued. She had a frying pan in one hand, a spatula in the other, and an eye-wateringly spicy smell was suddenly noticeable. Minato tried to rest his head on her shoulder, before backing away and rubbing his eyes again.

"What did you put in that?" he said, and coughed.

"I told you, peppers. Mighta overdone it…" Kushina raised the pan and looked at it experimentally. "I'm kinda cooking based on memory here."

He managed to laugh a little through his coughs. "Okay, okay, lemme get dressed."

"Sure, take your time," Kushina said, smiling and poking at the omelet with her spatula. As Minato rounded down the hall, he saw her add a worrying amount of some sort of spice to it, but decided not to say anything.

The smell had diminished considerably when he returned, dressed simply in a light shirt and pants. She had set out two plates of omelet for them, and she was already digging into her own.

"Ah, there you are." She wiped a fleck of egg off the corner of her mouth, and gave him another rough smile. "It's kinda spicy, but I hope you like."

"It's awfully nice of you. What's the occasion?" Minato asked, and sat down, picking up a fork and knife.

"For letting me sleep yesterday. And to apologize." She shoved another mouthful of omelet in her mouth.

"Apologize for what?"

Kushina chewed slowly, and swallowed. "For being so weird yesterday. I… wasn't having a very good day." She sighed.

"You wanna… tell me about it?" He poked experimentally at his omelet while he waited a few seconds for her to respond. Finally, she sighed, and shoved her plate aside, lacing her fingers together on the table.

"It's… complicated," she said, and looked to her left. "It's kind of hard to say."

"We've got all day to talk," Minato said, and finally sliced a piece of omelet for himself.

Kushina lowered her head for a while, looking at her hands. "I dunno where I would start," she said.

"Just tell it to me straight," said Minato.

"I suck at that."

"Then just take your time. Was it the, uh… the baby shower?"

She began to bite the nail on her thumb. "No, not… that. Exactly. But kind of? I just don't really know how to say this, it's really awkward."

"I'm listening," Minato said, with a helpful smile.

She wiped her eye with her palm, and rested her fist against her cheek. "Yesterday was… painful. And that baby shower was just too… weird for me to really… get it, I guess."

"What made it so painful, then?"

Kushina looked at the ceiling. She took a breath. Closed her eyes.

And with clumsy words, she began to talk.

-///-

It really had been a nice day, a hot August scorcher with cicadas screaming bloody murder and the waves crashing in the distance. Kushina woke up with a grin. Summer was her favorite time of year, the time of freedom and wild adventures.

She ran downstairs after barely getting dressed, giving her father and grandmother a gapped grin, before noticing something. "Where's Katsuya?"

"You're up late today, Kushina," her grandmother said, nodding at the hallway.

"Katsuya went down to the beach with his friends," her father said. He was reading a book, the table already spread with a partially-eaten breakfast. Kushina bolted. "Hold it! You can go out with him _after_ you've eaten, young lady."

"But da-ad, I'm not hungry!" Kushina whined.

"Grandma's not making lunch 'til 1, Kushina," he replied. He turned the page, looking over the book at her. "I don't want you to come dragging yourself back on an empty stomach."

"But I don't ca-are, I wanna play with Katsuya-a!"

"Let the girl go play," her grandmother laughed. "I can just make more for her at lunch."

"Gramma, you really _mean_ it?!" Kushina said. Her grandmother laughed more. "Oh thank you, thank you! Can I go, dad? Can I?"

Her father sighed. "All right. But he had better bring you back in time for lunch. And no complaining!"

"I won't!" Kushina said, and ran out the door like a whirlwind, leaving her grandmother and father laughing in the kitchen.

Sure enough, she could see Katsuya's two teammates hanging out on the beach, all of them with shiny new hitai'ates tied somewhere on their person. They were the definition of cool, in Kushina's book, with their silver metal and etched spiral in the center. Practically made for someone of the Uzumaki family to wear, Kushina would think with pride. Her grandmother still had hers, even.

"Oy, Kushina! You caught us at a good time!" one of the boys, Fumio, said. He had a bucket with him, which he waved in the air as he saw her running towards them. "We were just 'bout to go down to the rocks."

"Awesome!" Kushina said. She looked around quickly, expectantly. "Where's my brother?"

"Where else? He's out in the waves," said Rai, the other boy. "Just messing around."

"OO-OY! UZUMAKI! Your kid sister's here, let's go!" Fumio called. Katsuya, knee-deep in water nearby, came sloshing to shore, his pants dark and soaked. He flicked water at Kushina as soon as he saw her, and she held her arms up to shield herself in a feeble gesture.

"So you decided to join us! I tried waking you up like a bazillion times," he said.

"I was sleepy! Shut up!" Kushina said, and began hopping in place in the sand. "C'mon! Let's go down to the rocks!"

"Okay, okay. Ready to go, guys?" Katsuya said, and shouts of approval from his friends and Kushina were the reply. And so, the merry band headed east, toward the rocks.

The rocks weren't for swimming. Even Kushina wouldn't have tried that, no matter how cool or risky it would have been—mostly because Katsuya told her not to do it, and the fact that he never tried it himself. No, the rocks were for the tide pools and the climbing, and the view.

No sooner had they arrived when Fumio began poking around for crabs and starfish with Rai. Katsuya and Kushina liked climbing more, so that is what they did.

"Hey, careful there," he said, pulling her up to the top of a mid-sized rock, no longer wet and slippery, but dry and rough from the winds and sands. "There you go."

She sat down beside him, and her stomach rumbled. Suddenly, she felt hungry. Katsuya laughed. "Did you skip breakfast just to be with us?"

"So what if I did?" Kushina said, pouting.

Katsuya just laughed. "Never mind. Woah, look at that!" he said. He stood, and pointed in the distance.

Even from the shore, it was easy to see the whirlpools that gave Whirlpool Country their name, white and enormous and dangerous. It took a brave ship with one heck of a water ninja on board to even get near, and that was precisely what was happening now. The whirlpools were shrinking as a mid-sized ship cut through them effortlessly, sprays of white water exploding off its sides.

"Looks like it's from Mist country," Katsuya said, squinting as he tried to see what flags it was displaying. "Maybe it's got goods?"

"Maybe it's a bunch of pirates," Kushina said.

"Sis, don't joke about that kind of stuff!"

"What, it would be cool!" Kushina replied, and crossed her arms, sitting cross-legged. "I think it would be cool…"

"While it _would_ be cool," Katsuya said, sitting next to her again, "it wouldn't be that nice in real life. Pirates are mean."

"What if they're nice pirates?"

Katsuya laughed, and rubbed his wet sleeve against her face. She giggled and pulled away. "Okay, maybe they're nice pirates. But probably not."

"They still may be."

They kept laughing there on top of the rock, while Rai yelled at them about an eight-armed starfish or something. Katsuya ignored him, staying with his sister for far longer than usual.

It wasn't a pirate ship.

-///-

Katsuya lay on his back in Kushina's room later that night, sunburnt and anxious. The lights were off, and the darkness was cool. Kushina's mobile of shells twirled idly in the summer breeze in the window. He had been there for ten minutes, nearly. His rucksack lay by the door, waiting for him to just pick it up, but he was trying to find the words.

Why was he still thinking about this? He'd been thinking this over since he had passed the genin exams, since fewer and fewer of his classmates came back from their missions intact, or even alive. Since fear began to fill his stomach, and uncertainty about the future. Why was he even staying?

He couldn't take her with him. She was why he stayed. But he couldn't just take her with him.

But he just couldn't stay.

He was still wearing his hitai'ate. It was heavy on his forehead, and hot. He unknotted it and held it in his hand, letting the moonlight reflect off the still-shiny surface, off the engraved spiral.

He knelt at Kushina's side. She slept on her stomach, eyes closed, hand resting on her pillow.

He leaned in close, and began to put the headband beneath her hand. She stirred slightly, and he stopped.

"S'going on?" she said, turning and rubbing her eye.

He still hadn't found the words. He just shushed her, and stroked her forehead.

"You goin' somewhere, Katsuya?" she asked, her eyes half-closed.

"…yeah, yeah, I'm going somewhere," he replied, his voice the softest whisper.

"Where you goin'?" Her tone was almost playful in its sleepiness, and tears slid down his cheeks as he uncontrollably smiled.

"I'm going somewhere far away."

"Can I come with you?"

He bit his lip, tears hot in his eyes, his hand clenching that wretched piece of metal and cloth. "No, Kushina, you can't… come with me."

"Why not?"

"I don't think I'm coming home."

Kushina was no longer facing him, curled up into herself underneath the blanket. She didn't answer him.

He stroked her hair, so red, even in the darkness, behind her ear, and kissed her on the cheek. He could see his tears fall on her skin. "I am so, so sorry, Kushina…"

She reached up to wipe her tears off her face. "It's okay, Katsuya…" she said. "We can just go do something else…"

Katsuya stayed there for a few moments longer, wanting so badly to hug her, but afraid that she might fully wake up. But he stood, and put the hitai'ate in his pocket, and grabbed his rucksack.

And left.

-///-

The kitchen was quiet in the morning, and even Kushina noticed. Her grandmother was nowhere to be found, and the only breakfast on the table was a pot of rice and leftover curry from last night's dinner. Her father sat at the table with his forehead in his hands.

As soon as he heard her approaching, he sat up and brushed his bangs out of his face. "Oh, you're up. We, uh, have leftovers for breakfast," he said, managing a painfully false smile.

Kushina already knew something was wrong. "Where's gramma?" she asked.

"With some friends. She'll be back for lunch," her father said. He gestured to the table. "Come on, have some breakfast."

"Where's Katsuya?" she asked.

Her father stared at her with his brown eyes hollow and answerless. "He… isn't here. But he'll be home soon. They're going to find him soon." His words were quick, and he gestured to the table again. "Come on, Kushina, have some breakfast…"

"_I don't think I'm coming home."_

"Who's 'they?'" Kushina asked.

"Kushina, just eat some breakfast, please," her father said, his voice cracking a little.

"Dad, what's going on?"

"Honey, everything's fine. There's nothing to worry about, Katsuya will be back," he said.

"_I am so, so sorry…"_

Kushina stood there for a moment, in the empty room, before running up to her bedroom and slamming the door behind her, and shoving herself under her sheets, her father crying out to her from the floor below.

She sat there, alone with her thoughts, for hours.

Her father arrived with lunch at noon, but Kushina refused to eat.

But at dinner, her grandmother came up, and her father left a sandwich and a glass of milk on the floor beside her.

Kushina hugged her intensely hard, smelling that spicy smell that seemed to permeate every inch of her being. A smudge of tears stained her lap. She ate her dinner with quavering lips, and went to bed very, very early.

All she could hear was Katsuya's voice, speaking to her that one, last time.

She cried out to him, begging for him to come back from wherever he went.

But he never did.

-///-

In the morning, her father poked his head into her room. Though she wasn't looking at him, she could hear his tired and worried expression through his voice.

"Kushina, I'm going out to get some groceries. I'll be back soon."

Kushina held her knees tighter beneath her sheets. She heard the door close, and was left alone.

There were screams outside the window when she went to go use the bathroom.

Screams, and the smell of blood.

Kushina stayed in the bathroom, listening, curious and scared. The screams began to grow louder, and she could hear things being thrown, hitting walls. Strange crackling noises, like ice being stepped on. The air grew cold.

There was a crash on the floor below, and Kushina's heart jumped into her stomach. Her breath quickened. She could see it in the air in front of her. She shivered. There were voices.

"Maeha! Search upstairs, I'll get anyone on the ground floor!" The voice was rough and crude, and though there was no reply, footsteps began coming up the stairs.

Kushina dove behind the folding curtain in front of the bath and sat there, clutching her knees, being very still and very quiet and very scared. Her grandma was still downstairs. The air was so cold.

The footsteps went past the bathroom and disappeared for a while, in the rooms. Kushina considered running, but remembering the voice from the floor below, she decided that staying in the bathroom was probably a better idea.

Oh god, her grandma was still downstairs.

It was August and it felt like December. Everything was falling apart.

The bathroom door slid open, and the soft patter of straw sandals began to draw closer.

Kushina held her breath. An eternity seemed to pass. The footsteps felt like earthquakes as they came nearer and nearer.

They stopped in front of the screen.

And then, there was a face looking at her. It was beautiful, neither male nor female, with shiny black eyes and hair, and it wore a look of concern, its eyes wide and almost fearful.

"Maeha! You done searching that top floor?" the voice from below said. "All I found was an old lady. Didn't put up much of a fight." A pause. "Maeha!"

The person stood, looking at the bathroom door, then back at Kushina.

A million years came and went.

"There's nothing here!" The voice was young, and female. She couldn't have been much older than Katsuya.

"Well good, get down here!" the downstairs voice said. "We're almost done!"

The shouting outside the window got louder, and there were explosions in the distance. There were shouts of "Konoha!" and "Leaf ninjas!"

The voice downstairs was screeching. "SHIT! Maeha, get DOWN here!"

Maeha stood, standing stock-still, like a deer confronted by an archer. She kept looking back at Kushina, at the door.

"...SHIT!!" the voice downstairs said again. "Maeha, get your ass down here, or you'll get us both killed!"

Nothing happened.

The door downstairs slammed open, and there was a struggle, and a wet, gurgling, struggling sound.

More footsteps, but they quickly left.

There was the sound of wind, and of fighting outside. The shouts grew scarce.

And then, not quite knowing the reason why, Kushina took the girl Maeha's hand, and ran.

She ran through the kitchen, past the bodies and the blood, out the back door, into the alley, across the fence, through the grasses, into the woods of ferns and rocks and trees. And when she could no longer hear the sounds of the violence, or smell the blood, when the air finally grew warm again, she let go, and pointed into the forest.

"You… saved me…" Maeha said, struggling to catch her breath. "Why would you…?"

Kushina pointed again, her face stern, angry.

"I don't understand…" Maeha said. She wore a silver hitai'ate around her waist. A mist nin.

"Just go. Get out of here," Kushina said. She wrestled the words out of her stomach. "Get away from here."

There was silence.

The girl unknotted the hitai'ate from her waist, and offered it to Kushina. Kushina shook her head, and pointed into the forest for the third time.

"Just. Go."

There were tears in the mist nin's eyes as she dropped the hitai'ate. "I promise you I'll repay you someday. I promise."

Kushina said nothing.

The girl began to run, and soon disappeared.

Kushina made her way back to what was left of her village. The streets were littered with blood and ice and the dead. Walls of red-stained ice stood melting in the August sun.

They said it had been a massacre, and used words like "kekkei genkai" and "corruption in the mist government" to explain it.

They said she was the only survivor, that it was a miracle.

She didn't say anything.


End file.
